


Inappropriately Perfect

by juli_with_a_chance



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Divorced Hollence, Fluff and Angst, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-21
Updated: 2017-07-30
Packaged: 2018-09-01 06:56:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 27
Words: 73,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8614111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/juli_with_a_chance/pseuds/juli_with_a_chance
Summary: Hopefully you're enjoying this work as much as I enjoy writing it :) If you have any questions, suggestions, concerns, you can talk to me on Tumblr: juli-with-a-chance or if you just want to drop by and say hi...





	1. Chapter 1

-Laura POV-

“I’m sorry mom, I really am.” Lily whispers as we sit outside of the principal’s office.

“Shut it, you’re grounded.”

“But I didn’t mean to punch the kid. He wouldn’t shut up.”

“I don’t care, you punched him and that’s the bad part.”

“Ms. Hollis, you can go in now.” The secretary says.

“Stay here, read your book.” I say to Lily as I get up and walk into the office. I sit down in front of an older, blonde woman that looks as if her “resting-bitch-face” never goes away.

“Ms. Hollis. Nice to see you, I’m Principal Smith. Now, your daughter is a straight-A student, top of her class, seventh grade class President, and yet, is still childish in the sense of punching some boy in the face.”

“I don’t condone her punching a classmate, so I don’t want you to think it’s something that’s okay, but the child that she hit didn’t get in trouble and yet my child did, I don’t find that fair.”

“What was the young boy doing? Last I checked she did it for no reason.”

“He was tormenting her, he kept calling her names and things like that, but he isn’t here being spoken to and I am.”

“The teacher that saw the exchange should be in any moment, she’s in the middle of a department meeting.” Mrs. Smith says, leaning back in her chair. “Your daughter is a great student, don’t get me wrong. But zero tolerance is zero tolerance.” Mrs. Smith explains, looking over my shoulder and waving someone in.

“Sorry I’m late, the meeting ran over.” Someone says above me.

“This is Ms. Karnstein. Carmilla, this is Lily Hollis’ mother.”

“Laura.” I say with a smile, extending my hand for Carmilla to shake.

“You’re the mother of one of my brightest students. I must say your daughter is one of the brightest twelve year olds I’ve ever met. Regardless of the circumstance, your daughter shouldn’t even be in trouble for, I know she is the best student I’ve ever had and this doesn’t and shouldn’t reflect of her.” Carmilla explains with a wide smile.

“Thank you, it’s nice to hear that.”

“So, Carmilla, we’re here to discuss what happened.” Principal Smith says.

“That little shit Dominic had it coming, he kept chanting ‘Hillary for Prison’ and slamming his fist on the locker outside my classroom, Lily got fed up and punched the kid in the face. Granted it wasn’t right, but he deserved it, Maria. I don’t think you should give one of Silas’ finest anything more than lunch detention for a week.” I look over to see Maria thinking about what Carmilla had just said.

“I guess you’re right. Dominic Faro is a little shit any way; he’s in here nearly every other week. Okay, Laura your daughter will just be given lunch detention all next week.”

“Thank you. I mean, I know she did something she shouldn’t have, and she is going to get consequences for it at home, but at least she isn’t going to get suspended or anything like that.”

“You’re welcome Ms. Hollis. Your daughter has a lot of promise, there is no reason to discourage it, who knows, maybe she’ll be the one to shatter the glass ceiling before we know it.” Principal Smith smiles. We say our goodbyes and I leave the office with Carmilla trailing behind me.

“You never stop reading kid.” Carmilla says to Lily when she sees her with her feet up on the bench.

“I want to get done before class Ms. Karnstein, you know that.” Lily smiles, closing the book.

“But if you keep reading the books before everyone else, it takes away from everyone else participating.”

“I know, but these books are so easy to read, it amazes me that no one else finds them as interesting as I do. I mean my mom was reading me _The Catcher in the Rye_ when I was in fourth grade, and _To Kill a Mockingbird_. I know all of these stories already, that’s what makes reading them fun, they’re my favorites.”

“You read the classics to your daughter?”

“Of course, they were some of my favorites, I couldn’t wait to share them with her when I felt she was old enough.”

“Mom even read Stephen King novels to me since I was seven. _The Shining_ is one of my favorites.” Lily says excitedly, walking over to me.

“You know who Stephen King is?” Carmilla asks, her eyes almost busting out of her head. “It’s only been a couple of months of school, I don’t expect to know a lot about you, but I thought you were just a teacher’s pet, wanting to make a good impression, but you really are a very bright kid, brighter than any other student of mine. You really should be proud of your daughter, she’s going to go places.”

“I’m very proud of the young lady she is becoming.” I say, wrapping my arm around her shoulder and kissing Lily on the side of her head.

“Now, cut down on the reading list on the syllabus. You’re nearly halfway through the list and we’re not even near winter break. Slow it down.” Carmilla says, wagging her finger in Lily’s face in mock seriousness. “And be good for you mom.”

“I will Ms. Karnstein.”

“It was nice meeting you Ms. Karnstein.” I smile, extending my hand for her to take.

“It was nice meeting you too Ms. Hollis, please call me Carmilla. Hopefully I will see you at open house next week.”

“I should be there. But we have to get going, if we’re not home soon your grandfather will begin to worry.”

“See you tomorrow.” Lily waves as she leads the way out of the building. When we get into the car Lily looks at me, and smiles.

“What?”

“Ms. Karnstein was checking you out.”

“No she was not.”

“Yeah she was, ‘please call me Carmilla’, no teacher says that to a parent!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I say, shaking my head.

“You’re gonna have to get back out there sooner or later mom, mama moved on and now she’s getting married again.”

“You know I hate when you talk about your mother.”

“I know, but it’s happening, you have to make it happen too.”

“But I’m not making it happen with your teacher, there’s some kind of law against that.”

“I don’t know if there is, and I don’t care, she was looking ta you, and you were looking at her. Pretend she isn’t my teacher.”

“If you don’t stop talking you are going to be grounded for an extra week. It’s bad enough you punched that boy, you’re lucky the principal only gave you lunch detention.”

“I know. If I wasn’t the best student the school has ever seen I would have been suspended.” Lily shrugs, reaching into her bag and pulling out her book.

“Stop reading so much, I love the fact that you enjoy reading, but there’s enough literature out there that you don’t have to fly through your reading list.

“I’m ten books in, we’re only discussing Shakespeare at the moment, I’m already past that section.”

“And that is what Ms. Karnstein is talking about, you have to cool it a little bit.”

“Fine.” Lily huffs, running into the house when we pull into the driveway.

“How did it all go?” My dad asks as soon as I get out of the car, walking over to me from where he was raking leaves.

“Lunch detention for a week. Apparently they agreed the boy deserved getting punched, and she’s too good of a student to give a sever punishment to.”

“Anything else happen?"

“Her English teacher was who vouched for her, seeing as the incident happened outside of her classroom. Her teacher spoke very highly of Lily.”

“Good.”

“Yeah, open house is next week, so hopefully I’ll be able to see how she’s doing in all of her classes.”

“Are you going to ask Danny to go?”

“No, she barely could go to one of Lily’s soccer games, even when the games were at the field across from her house, Danny never went.” I scoff. “I’ll only tell her if Lily wants her to go, other than that, I’m not saying anything. Danny is busy starting her replacement family anyway.”

“I never liked her, I don’t know what you saw in her.”

“She was sweet in high school and college, I couldn’t help it. Then she became a jerk after Lily was born. I don’t want to talk about it. I have to get ready for work, and Danny is coming to get Lily for the weekend.”

“Okay. Your mother is inside, she’s making cookies in anticipation of the outcome of today.” My dad smiles as he starts going back to raking. I walk into the house and smile at the smell of cookies baking.

“Hey mom.” I smile as I walk into the kitchen.

“Hey sweetie, Lily told me what happened. Good she didn’t get in a lot of trouble, that little brat deserved a punch in the nose.”

“Thanks mom.” I say, rolling my eyes. “I have to get changed for work, Danny should be here any minute.”

“Lily was told already to throw a bag together for the weekend. Don’t worry. You just get ready to go to work.” My mom smiles as she walks around the island to kiss me on the cheek. “For the past thirty-seven years, you never stop making me proud.”

“Oh come on mom, I’ve been working at the news station for years now and you say this every time I go to work.”

“Because it’s still a proud moment to turn on the TV and see my baby on it giving me the news of the day.”

“If I knew you were going to be this way, I would have just stayed working at the paper, oh wait, let me just go refer to the scrapbook you made of every article I wrote.”

“Hey, you have a daughter now, you’ll understand one say when she’s doing you proud.”

“I felt that already today, her teacher told me how bright she is and my heart swelled a bit.”

“And that feeling never goes away, not even when they’re old, the feeling of pride is still something that sticks with you.” I sigh and steal a few cookies from the plate before running upstairs. Regardless of the fact that I make more than enough money for Lily and I to have our own place, there’s something about living back home that makes me feel happier than if I were to be living in an apartment with just Lily and myself. Thankfully my childhood home was big enough for us to be able to live here comfortable, and for Lily to be able to have her own room.

“Mom!” Lily calls out.

“Yes sweetie?” I ask, reaching the top of the stairs.

“I have a game this weekend, does mama know that?”

“She should have the schedule. I’ll remind her when she gets here.”

“Where’s my away kit?”

“In the laundry room, nana knows where it is, I think she washed it last.” I hear her run downstairs as I walk into my room and get changed for work. Once I was changed, like clockwork, Danny was ringing the bell as I was about to walk out the door. I sigh and open the door, forcing a smile. “Hey.”

“Hey, is Lily ready?” Danny asks as she walks through the door.

“Yeah, she’s just getting her things for soccer together.”

“She has a game this weekend?”

“Yeah, it’s the next district over. Jefferson, it’s a big game, I’ll be there to get her, but you have to bring her there. If that isn’t an issue.”

“No issue, do I just drop her off then? I have things to do.”

“You have things more important than watching your daughter’s soccer game?” I ask, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Yeah, I’m sorry. I have to take care of some things and won’t have time to stay. What time does she have to be there?”

“By three o’clock tomorrow. Two-thirty would be better, seeing as she likes to be early and do her own warm up before the team gets there, but you wouldn’t know that.” I say in a hushed tone when I hear Lily coming.

“Hi mama.” She says, hugging Danny.

“Hey kiddo, ready to go?”

“Yeah.” Lily turns to me and gives me a hug. “I love you mom, I’ll see you tomorrow at my game.”

“I’ll be there, three-fifteen sharp, do you want me to bring you anything?”

“Extra water as usual.”

“No problem sweetie.” I chime, caressing her cheek. “I love you.”

“Love you too.” Lily smiles, walking out of the house, Danny trailing behind her. I sigh as I watch them get into Danny’s car and drive away. Sharing a kid with someone you used to love is the hardest thing one can do.


	2. Chapter 2

-Carmilla POV-

“You better kick Silas’ butt.” I say to my niece as she runs over to me.

“That’s funny that you say that, seeing as you work there.”

“Yeah, but you’re more important, so I’ll always root for you Harley.” I say, kissing her on the top of her head.

“Make us proud.” Her father says, holding his clipboard.

“I will dad.” She smiles before running out of the field.

“Are you afraid anyone will recognize you?”

“The only thing that could possibly give me away to being here is the fact that Harley’s jersey says Karnstein on the back.” I tell Will as I put my sunglasses on. I cross my arms over my chest and scan the other side of the field, seeing familiar faces of students and parents; I catch a glimpse of a familiar smile and honey brown hair.

“What are you smiling about?” Will asks, cocking his eyebrow.

“Nothing.”

“You’re a shitty liar.”

“Yeah well. It’s not any of your business.”

“Does it have anything to do with the pretty lady walking over here from the other side of the field.” He nods, drawing my attention to the fact that Laura was starting to walk over to me.

“Hey.” Laura chimes.

“Hey.”

“What brings you to the opposite side of the field?” She teases, placing her hands on her hips.

“My niece is on this team.”

“Oh I see, well Silas is going to kick her team’s butt, I hope you know that.”

“We’ll have to see about that cutie.”

“Well I’ll see you after we win.” She chimes, turning on her heels with a small hop.

“And who is that?” Will asks, looking over his sunglasses.

“The mother of one of my students.”

“The mother of a student? Are you serious?”

“Yeah, I am.”

“You don’t know her from anywhere else?”

“No, why would I?”

“Do you not watch the news at eleven on channel four?”

“No, I never watch TV of any sort.” I scoff.

“That’s Laura Hollis, she’s a news anchor on the eleven o’clock news.”

“Of course you would know that.”

“Natalie likes to watch the news at eleven, especially when Lucas wakes up at that time to be fed. Marisa get in there, don’t hold back! Harley, don’t let up in eleven!”

“So she’s on TV?” I ask, watching as Laura cheers on her daughter. “When’s halftime?”

“Forty minutes.” Will says, looking at his watch.

“I’ll be back.” I say, patting his shoulder and walking the perimeter of the field towards Laura.

“That little bitch won’t get off of Lily’s ass. I can’t believe it.” I hear Laura mumble a little to loudly.

“That little bitch happens to be my niece.” I chime over her shoulder.

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be, Harley has her moments.”

“How come I’ve never seen you at a game before?”

“I never lived close enough to see one of Harley’s games, I finally moved closer to my brother when I got the teaching position at Silas.”

“Interesting. Go Lily!” She shouts, clapping when her daughter scores a goal. For the remainder of the first half I stood with Laura watching both teams play. Once the whistle was blown for halftime Lily starts jogging over towards her mother and I. she looks up and smiles.

“Hey Ms. Karnstein. What are you going here? Wait are you related to the Karnstein that wouldn’t leave me alone? I wanted to punch her in the face.”

“When did you become so violent?” Laura asks, handing her daughter a water bottle.

“I don’t know?” She shrugs.

“To answer your question, the Karnstein you and your mother both seem irritated with is my niece, Harley.”

“I’m sorry that I said that about her, but she wouldn’t leave me alone. I hate playing her, she’s so aggressive.”

“I’ll talk to her father about telling her to let up a bit.”

“No, don’t make it an issue.” Lily pleads. “It takes away from the game. I like showing her up when I’m able to score regardless of how persistent she is.”

“So then go kick her butt some more.” I smile.

“Okay Ms. Karnstein.” Lily chimes, running over to her coach when she hears the whistle.

“Go kick butt sweetie.” Laura chimes. Watching Laura interact with her daughter brought some light in as to why Lily is the way she is, and why she is such an amazing student and all around young lady. “What?” Laura asks, bringing me back to reality.

“Just thinking.”

“Oh.” I feel my phone go off in my pocket; I look to see Will was calling me. I look across the field to see him waving me back over.

“I gotta go. Tell Lily I’ll see her in class Monday and to slow down her reading.”

“Yes ma’am.” Laura says with a smile. “See you around Carmilla.”

“See you around Laura.” I smile, turning to make my way towards Will.

“Why are you standing with the enemy? Harley’s words, not mine.” Will says when I reach him.

“Because I’m an adult and can do what I want.”

“Or you’re trying to get with a parent of one of your students."

“You know nothing.”

“So you are?” He asks, pushing his sunglasses to the top of his head.

“My favorite student just so happens to have an attractive mother, it’s not my fault.” I shrug.

“You’re tip-toeing into dangerous territory.”

“I’ll see where it takes me.”

 

-Laura POV-

“The only teacher that I care if you see is Ms. Karnstein.” Lily says as she sits on my bed and watches me get ready to go to her open house.

“I’m not dating your teacher.”

“But I saw how she was with you at my game the other day, I mean she made an effort to stand with you when she should have been on her niece’s side.”

“Lily, I’m not going to see your teacher as anything more than that, your teacher.”

“Come on mom, when are you going to get back out there?”

“When I’m good and ready. Your mother was good and ready for all the wring reasons which is why she’s getting remarried.”

“I know that she cheated on you with Betty, that’s why they’re getting married.”

“Your mother wasn’t nice to do that to me, it takes a while to get over something like that.”

“I guess so.” Lily signs.

“One day you’ll understand what it’s like.” I smile, walking over to her and kissing her cheek.

“So are you gonna go out with Carmilla?”

“It’s Ms. Karnstein to you and no.” I smile, watching Lily roll her eyes. “Why are you so insistent?”

“Ms. Karnstein is my favorite teacher and it would be cool if you dated her, the I’ll be able to talk to her more about books and things like that all the time.”

“I’m still not doing it.” I chime, laughing as Lily does some exaggerated huff.

“Fine, oh and can you ask Laf if I’m passing? I’m not too sure, science isn’t my thing.”

“Laf knows better than to let you fail.”

“I know, aunt Perry will kill them if they fail me, but I don’t want it to be written off just cause they’re your best friend.”

“But you want me to date your English teacher for the enlightening benefit.”

“Exactly.” Lily chimes with a grin that reminds me too much of Danny’s, even though it’s scientifically impossible. I sigh and look away from Lily and back at myself in the mirror.

“Okay, I have to go. Be good for nana and grandpa. I have to go to work right after this. Go to bed early and don’t read too much.” I say, walking out of the room.

“I know mom.” She says, following me downstairs.

“I’m going! I’ll see everyone tomorrow. Love you.” I call out, not wanting to search for my parents. “Why don’t you do something productive and look for apartments, you and I both know how much you enjoy that. Leave a list on my bed and we’ll go to some open house’s this weekend.”

“Okay mom.” Lily’s eyes lit up.

“Nothing too expensive.”

“I know.”

“Be careful sweetie!” I hear my dad call out. I kiss Lily one last time on the cheek and walk out the door. Once at the school I found a place to park and was surprised it wasn’t as packed as I thought it would be. The parents gathered in the auditorium for a quick assembly held by the Principal. After she spoke she sent us on our way to follow our child’s schedule. The first few teachers had great things to say about Lily and how she was exceling in all areas of the class. I saw on her schedule she had Laf’s class before Carmilla’s. I walk into the science classroom and saw Laf talking to a group of parents with excitement in their eyes.

“Welcome frosh.” They say when the group of parents finally leaves. “Welcome to my geek cave hidden in the walls of the public school system.”

“Do you ever leave the weird at home?”

“Nope.” They say with a smile. “So, Lily is a wonderful student, she reminds me of you when she goes on tangents when she tries to understand something. There is nothing to report on because if there were a problem, then I’d have called you. But I heard that she got lunch detention for punching that Faro kid in the face good for her. Let her break free from the goody-two-shoes mode.”

“Good to know that my daughter’s violence is being praised.”

“Well it was bad ass. Anyway how are you? How is everything?”

“As good as it can be Laf, we’ll have to get together and talk about it all.”

“Yeah we will. Perry would like to see you and talk. We have some news and if I tell you she’ll kill me so give her a call tomorrow and set something up.”

“No problem. Hey can I ask your opinion on someone?" 

“Lily wants you to date Carmilla and you’re refusing.” I look at them wide eyed and they smile. “She talks to me every day, seeing as she asked if she could serve her detention with me rather than sitting in the office. I don’t know what you think about it, but I don’t think it’s right to be with her teacher. It’s one thing to be long term friends with your child’s teacher, but there’s something inappropriate about dating a teacher."

“Did you tell Lily this?”

“I did, do you think she listened?”

“Of course she didn’t listen, she doesn’t listen.” I say, shaking my head. “I have to see Carmilla after this, I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

“Maybe she’ll stay professional. Don’t stress out about it, just see what happens.”

“I will. God, I can’t believe she talked to you about this. She really likes Carmilla as a teacher, I’ve never seen her talk about a teacher the way she talks about Karnstein.”

“Maybe she’s missing that other maternal figure. It’s hard for a twelve-year-old to have to be split between parents and now her mother is getting married to someone that isn’t her mother, I mean not only is Lily going to have three mothers, it’s confusing enough for her to have to understand why things are they way they are, and you and I both know she resents Danny, so maybe it all have to do with her wanting to see you happy and her missing Danny. It’s been three years Laura, you’re going to have to get back out there soon, and you’re not getting any younger.”

“I know Laf. I just don’t want to meet someone based on the fact that they teach my daughter.”

“Stranger things could happen.” They say before it was time for me to move on to Carmilla’s class. I walk into Carmilla’s classroom to see her talking with a group of parents; I look around and decide to take a seat by the window, taking the opportunity to check my e-mails.

“I didn’t pin you as a back of the class kinda gal.” Carmilla chimes, crossing her arms over her chest with a smile. “Hey.”

“Hello. I was always a back of the class person, it was easier for me to focus.”

“You and your daughter have that in common. In all the years I’ve been teaching, I’ve never seen someone back here participate as much as your daughter.”

“Well I’m happy to hear that.”

“You should be, I’m not one to pick favorites, but Lily is in my top five, although the only thing I have to ask you to do, and it really goes against my being, but I need you to take away your daughter’s library card, kindle, whatever she uses to read. She is getting too far ahead and it’s getting to be a distraction to her. I mean she understands the material and gets amazing grades on her tests, but she’s making the rest of my class look bad.”

“I understand, I will have a talk with her about it.”

“I teach an AP class, next year I would like to see her in it. I think it’ll be good for her. It’s a bit more intense reading and longer books to get through. It may be good for a girl like her.” Carmilla explains as she walks over to a filing cabinet, she finds what she’s looking for and hands me a paper. “I don’t want to encourage her, I don’t want this to see like a challenge or anything like that. But there’s an assignment that has to be done in order to get into the class, maybe if you show her this it’ll get her away from the current syllabus and get her moving to something else. I usually give this to my students at the end of the year, but Lily is different.”

“You speak so highly of my daughter.”

“Because she really is a well rounded child.”

“Thank you.” I smile, folding the paper and putting it in my bag. “Is there anything else to talk about?”

“No, I think that’s it.” Carmilla smiles. “I – I know the answer, but it doesn’t hurt to ask, would you like to get coffee sometime?”

“You know the answer to that you said?” I ask, standing up.

“The answer is no because you think dating a teacher is inappropriate.” Carmilla says, rolling her eyes.

“Yeah, dating my child’s teacher is inappropriate.”

“You’re loss cutie.”

“No, it’s your loss, _cutie_.” I tease, walking out of her classroom.

* * *

“Mom?” Lily asks, walking into my room.

“Yes sweetie?”

“What’s this?” She asks, holding up the paper Carmilla gave me.

“That is an assignment to get into an AP English course next year, Ms. Karnstein thinks you’ll enjoy the class, and she wants you to stop reading ahead, this may help curb that because the material will take a bit longer to get through.”

“Oh okay, can we go to the library? I need to take out _Robinson Crusoe_ , it’s the book I need to read for this assignment.”

“I have an old copy in grandpa’s study, no need to go to the library, but I will have to start locking his door, seeing as you get into all of the books, Ms. Karnstein needs you to stop reading ahead.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll focus on getting this right and cut back on what she’s teaching now. Can I go get the book?”

“Take a break from reading all together for a while, nothing’s going to happen. I don’t have the time to get you fitted for reading glasses. You’re eyes are going to get messed up from all the reading you do.”

“Okay, okay. But the book is here?”

“Of course. Go do something a twelve-year-old should be doing.”

“Can I go by Kaya’s house?”

“Yeah, I’ll take you there in a little bit.” I say, sitting up in my bed. After getting dressed and bringing Lily to her friend’s house I decided to go grocery shopping.

“Fancy seeing you here.” I hear Carmilla say from behind me. “Hi.” She smiles.

“Hi Carmilla.”

“How’s Lily?”

“She’s going to take time away from reading all together for a couple weeks, but she’s going to take you up on the advanced class assignment.”

“I’m happy to hear it.” She smiles.

“Carmilla, sweetie.” A blonde woman says, walking up next to Carmilla and putting something in her basket. “I found that beer you like. Who’s this?”

“This is the mother of one of my students. I was just talking about her daughter taking me up on the offer of her being in my advanced class.”

“Interesting. Hello, I’m Ell.”

“Laura.” I say, forcing a smile and shaking her hand.

“Oh, I know you. You’re Laura Hollis, you’re on the news.”

“Yeah, that’s me.”

“You’re hotter in person. Sorry if that sounds too forward.”

“No, it’s okay. It’s not the first time I’ve heard it.” I say with a laugh. “I don’t mean to be rude, but I have to get going. It was nice seeing you Ms. Karnstein, and nice meeting you Ell.” I say, staring at Carmilla for a moment before walking away from them.


	3. Chapter 3

-Laura POV-

I’m sitting in the living room going over the stories I want to talk about during tonight’s broadcast when I hear Lily walk in from school. “Mom?”

“Yeah?”

“Here.” She says, handing me an envelope.

“What’s this?” I ask, closing my laptop.

“Ms. Karnstein gave it to me and made me promise not to open it. Maybe it’s a love letter.” She chimes.

“Go get your snack and start your homework.” I open the envelope and take out the small piece of paper.

_Ell is a friend, nothing more. I couldn’t tell you that in front of her because it would have been weird telling a friend that about a student’s parent. I don’t know what it is about you, I never felt this way for anyone, but I can’t stop thinking about you Laura. I don’t want to sound weird or make it something strange, but it’s true. Seeing your daughter’s face every day reminds me of yours, it’s twisted to say that. It’s true though, I know you’re against everything when it comes to dating your daughter’s teacher, I know you’re never going to give me a chance, but I would like to just talk with you over coffee. It’s not too much to ask for…_

I sigh, opening my laptop and tying a response to Carmilla. I run up to my room and get it out of the printer, putting it in an envelope and sealing it. “Lily!” I call out as I go back down stairs and into the kitchen. “Give this to Carm– Ms. Karnstein, tomorrow morning, don’t wait until class because you’ll try to open it. If you open it or do anything sneaky to it, I will ground you for an extra week.”

“You barely enforced grounding me these past two weeks.”

“Because it’s hard to stay mad at you.” I smile, kissing her on the cheek when she takes the envelope from me.

“Because you love me so much.”

“Of course.”

“Mama texted me today.”

“Wow, she actually texted you on a Thursday.” I say, raising my eyebrows a bit.

“She wants me to go to dinner with her and Betty tonight.”

“Do you want to go?” I ask, leaning against the counter and crossing my arms over my chest.

“I would like to. If it’s okay.” Lily mumbles, looking down a bit.

“You’re allowed to see you mother whenever you want to.”

“Then why do you make me feel bad when I want to see her?”

“I don’t mean to sweetie, I really don’t.”

“You’re just jealous that mama has a fiancée and you don’t have anyone.”

“A little.” I whisper with a sigh.

“You’ll find someone soon mom, I know it.” Lily smiles.

“Carmilla is not going to be that person.”

“Why not? Just give the lady a chance.”

“Why?”

“Because she’s the only adult that I like enough to want to see everyday, aside from you of course.”

“That doesn’t mean I’m going to date her.”

“Just go on one date.”

“No.”

“Please.”

“No.”

“Please.”

“Lily Jane, if you don’t stop right now I’ll ground you.”

“Okay, fine. I’ll give her this tomorrow.” She says, purring the envelope in her bag.

“Thank you. Finish your homework and get ready to go. When is mama going to be here?”

“She said she was going to get me around five-thirty.”

“Okay.”

 

-Carmilla POV-

I’m sat at my desk, drinking my morning coffee and waiting for the first group of rowdy teenagers to begin my day when I hear a light knock at my door, I look up and see Lily walking towards my desk. “I’m not supposed to see you for a few hours Hollis, you can’t be this eager for me to teach you.”

“My mom gave me something, and she made me promise that I would give it to you first thing in the morning.” She explains, looking through her bag and pulling out an envelope. “I’m assuming it’s a response to what you gave me yesterday.”

“I’m assuming that as well.” Lily stands over me, watching intently as I go to open the envelope, I look up and her and raise an eyebrow. “You have a class to get to kid. You better get there.”

“I wanna know what she said.”

“Don’t care, and it’s nothing to do with you so get going before I have to give you detention.”

“Fine.” She says with an exasperated sigh, turning on her heels and leaving the classroom.

“See you later Hollis!” I call out as my first class begins to funnel into the room. I look at the envelope in my hands; I take a breath and open it.

_You’re unbelievable. I guess in order for you to leave me alone and to shut you up, I may have to get coffee with you. And yes, it is weird that you’re always thinking about me, but I guess I have to just deal with that thought, I mean, I think about you too, but of course it’s wrong and inappropriate and all of that, you are my daughter’s teacher… if you want to take me up on my coffee offer, meet me tonight at eight at the corner coffee shop on Porter. Don’t get your hopes up for more than coffee, I’m warning you now._

I smile, and put the letter back in the envelope and put it in my bag. “Ms. K, why are you smiling?” One of my students chimes.

“Because, contrary to popular belief, I do have feelings and that thing called a heart.” I say sarcastically as I get up from my desk and stand in front of the class to begin my lesson.

* * *

I walk into the coffee shop to find Laura sitting in a corner on her phone, she looks up and smirks when she meets my gaze, I walk over to the small table and sit across from here. “Hello.” I say, sitting back in the chair.

“I finally decided to give in to you.” She teases, turning her phone over and laying it on the table.

“To which I am grateful. Would you like a coffee or did you have something already?”

“I would like a coffee please, cream two sugars.”

“I’ll be right back.” I smile, getting up from the table. I order our drinks and walk back to the table, placing Laura’s cup in front of her. “So, I have a question, and it may make me seem ignorant.”

“I don’t want to know the question.” She smiles, taking the lid off of her cup.

“Ha ha. How long have you been working on the news?”

“I’ve been working for the channel four, for about seven years now, but I went to broadcasting about a year and a half, two years ago. I was lucky enough for the head of the network understand enough to let me work only at eleven and not on weekends. I send in my prepped out stories and everything around this time and then I’m ready to go when I get there.”

“That’s good. Small world, my mother works for channel four news, or the last I heard she still was. I haven’t spoken to her in a while.”

“Who’s your mother?”

“Lilita Morgan.” I watch Laura’s eyes go wide.

“Ms. Morgan is your mother?”

“Yes, she took back her maiden name when her and my father got divorced, I’m closer to him than I am to her. I talk to him every day. So you know my mother?”

“She’s my boss in question. I mean, she scares the shit out of me, but she is extremely understanding.”

“That’s shocking, seeing as she was a total bitch to me when I was growing up. If you ask me, she played favorites, she loved my adopted sister more than she loved me, and my little brother is adopted too. She cared for them more than me, which I find reversed, usually a parent loves a biological child more, then again they were hand picked by her and I was just a surprising accident.” I shrug, playing with the coffee cup. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to go in that direction.”

“It’s okay, this is what a coffee date is right, talking about things. It’s nice to get to know you more.”

“Says the woman that didn’t want to go out with me because it is, quote, inappropriate.”

“It feels that way. I mean, to have you over my house, how am I to introduce you to my parents? I had to move back in with them after my divorce, but Lily is looking for apartments that she would like to live and still stay within the district for the sake of her friends and stuff. Plus it would be weird for Lily to call you Carmilla, then what if she slips up in school and calls you Carmilla, like that’s not right. It’s not right to confuse her and whatever else.” Laura rambles, shaking her head a bit when she looks up at me.

“Do you take a breath when you know you’re going to talk that much? Or does it just happen seamlessly while you’re talking?”

“Both.” She smiles.

“Oh, that’s interesting, Lily does that too when she’s giving an explanation in class.”

“Like mother, like daughter.”

“Is she anything like your ex?”

“Certain things oddly enough remind me of her mother, but not very much seeing as biologically she is mine.”

“Interesting.”

“Have you ever been married or have kids?”

“Married, yes for a split second while I was in college. Kids… that’s a story for another day.” I whispered.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bring it up and upset you.” Laura says, sensing the shift in the atmosphere around us.

“No, it’s okay, really. It’s exactly what I said, a story for another day.”

“Getting your hooks into me for another get together?”

“Exactly.” I smile, watching Laura roll her eyes at me and smile.

“Okay.”

“Okay? You’ll go our with me again?”

“Yeah, I will.”

“I call this exchange a success.”

“Just keep it quiet, I don’t want Lily to know anything about this. I don’t want her getting carried away.”

“I understand.” I nod, not being able to hold back the smile on my face.

“I’d love to get into why you’re smiling so much, but I really have to get to work.”

“I’ll walk you out.” I smile, getting up from the table before Laura does. She smiles and leads the way out of the coffee shop and to her car. “Thank you for giving in to me.”

“It was more, me giving in to myself.”

“Oh, so you did want me?”

“I plead the fifth.” She smiles, leaning against her car. “It was nice though, and I wouldn’t mind seeing you again.”

“Well I think that is an accomplishment.”

“I have to go.” Laura says, looking down at her watch. “I’ll call you.”

“You’d need my number in order to do that cutie.”

“Well, I was going to ask you, but I don’t know now.”

“Give me your phone.” I say, holding out my hand. She sighs and digs through her bag in search of her phone. Once she hands it to me, I put my number in and hand it back to her with a smile. “I’ll know it’s you when you text me, or call me. I left my phone in my car.”

“I see, I’ll talk to you later.” She smiles, stepping closer to me and kissing me on the cheek.

“I’ll talk to you later.” I smile, turning on my heels to walk back to my car.

 

-Laura POV-

“Why are you on your phone so much?” Lily asks me, walking up behind when I was sat in the couch and trying to read my conversation.

“Because I’m an adult and can do whatever I please without you prying.”

“You don’t need to get all defensive. I was just asking.” Lily says, raising her hands in the air. It has been a few weeks since Carmilla and I had our little coffee date and it was hard trying to not talk to her every day. Something about her was captivating and made me happier than I’ve felt in a while.

“Honey, why are you all jumpy today?” My dad asks, walking into the living room.

“I’m not jumpy. Lily is just nosy.”

“Am not!” Lily calls out.

“What’s really going on?”

“I met someone.” I whisper, watching his face chance slightly.

“Oh did you?” He asks, sitting down on the couch next to me.

“Yeah, I really like her dad.”

“Who is she? What does she do?”

“She’s a teacher.” I whisper. “She’s Lily’s English teacher.”

“Are you crazy?”

“No, I’m not crazy. She tried to get me to go out with her for weeks. I gave her the satisfaction of going to coffee and now I feel like a teenager again, all I want to do is text her and talk to her, but I don’t want to make it a think because of Lily, I don’t want her thinking it’s a solid thing when it isn’t yet.”

“Why would she think that way?”

“Because she thinks that Danny and Betty are happier than I am and that I’m just floundering around.” I say rolling my eyes. “I just don’t want things to be taken out on her either if something were to happen between Carmilla and I, I don’t want Lily caught in the middle.”

“As long as you feel everything you’re doing is going to turn out okay in the end, then I don’t care what you do. I just want you happy and to find someone that will treat you better than Danny. The only thing I want you to focus on is getting the heck out of this house before a girlfriend comes into the picture.” My dad says with a smile, ruffling my hair playfully.

“Lily and I are going to be looking at apartments soon, and the you’ll be begging me to move back in because you’ll miss us too much.” I say, rolling my eyes.

“This is true, but still. You want a relationship, you get out.”

“Wanna know something funny, her mother is my boss.”

“Small world Laura.”

“That it is dad. Where’s mom?”

“She had to go to the doctor today, she should be back in a little bit.”

“Okay.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“What do you mean?”

“This situation with the teacher.”

“I’m going to just go with the flow, she asked me to meet her this weekend. Her niece is playing against Lily again. I think we’re going to talk to Lily about all of this.”

“Just make sure you want this before you bring Lily into the mix.”

“I know dad.” I smile. 

* * *

“I can’t believe your niece’s team beat us, the never beat us.” Lily complains as she walks up next to where Carmilla and I were standing at the corner of the field.

“Things happen kid, you know that.” Carmilla says with a smile. “So, your mother and I were talking and we figured you’d be starving and may want to go some where to eat.”

“You’re going to come?”

“Yeah, your mom said it was fine.” Carmilla says, smiling at me.

“Cool, can we go to a diner or something? I want to eat pancakes.”

“No problem sweetie.” I say, patting Lily on the shoulder. “Wait until we get to the car to take those off, the grass is wet and you forgot your slip-ons in the car.”

“I brought extra socks.” Lily shrugs, walking towards the car in just her socks.

“Now my car is going to get dirty!” I call out to her.

“Wash it!” She says over her shoulder.

“I can’t stand her some times.” I sigh, looking to see Carmilla trying to hide her smirk. “What’s that look about?”

“You two seem like the same exact person is all.” She shrugs, wrapping her arm around my shoulder when she sees Lily is far away enough. “Before you freak out, no one is paying attention.” She whispers in my ear before kissing the side of my head.

“Meet us at that diner down the road on the corner.”

“Okay. I’ll see you soon.” She smiles, walking over towards the direction of her niece’s team.

“Who the hell is that?” I hear someone ask, I turn to see Danny standing a few feet away from me with her arms crossed over her chest.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

“I came to watch my daughter play her game.”

“That’s a lie, you never come to her games and don’t even try to act like you do.”

“Well, I decided to come to this one, now who the hell was that?”

“You don’t have the right to ask who has their arm around me when you’re the one that cheated.” I say as I start to walk towards the car.

“That isn’t the point, I want to know who my daughter is around.”

“Oh, but when you started taking her on weekends and let Betty around her, I was overreacting when I asked you that same question. Now that I’m the one with a budding relationship you want to take charge and know what’s happening?”

“I think I have a right to.”

“And I think you have the right to fuck off.” I say with a sarcastic smile.

“Really Laura, is that how you’re going to play this?”

“No, but it is simply not your business, besides she happens to adore Lily.” 

“Oh so this has been happening, I’m surprised Lily didn’t tell me.”

“Because Lily doesn’t know, look this may sound worse than it is, but she’s Lily’s teacher. The two of them have been plotting for me to go out with her and I finally did. She’s good for Lily.” I say, watching Danny’s face fall a bit.

“That’s Ms. Karnstein?”

“Yeah, and we’re seeing how this all goes over with Lily before we decide to make it a permanent thing.”

“How long has it been a thing?”

“Almost a month.”

“And Lily hasn’t found out yet? She was barely able to keep her Christmas presents a surprise when she was younger, she would find everything instantly.”

“I remember. But this has been a pretty good secret; she doesn’t know anything for the most part. She deserves another stable figure in her life, it may be good for her.”

“I know. I know.” Danny sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. “I’m not going to argue anything, I have no real input, but I just want Lily to be protected and taken care of.”

“She will, don’t worry. Carmilla will kick anyone’s ass that tries to hurt her.”

“Good. Alright, I’ll let you get going.”

“Thanks.” I smile.

“I need to borrow Lily this week, Betty wants her to get fitted for her dress for the wedding.”

“Does it matter what day?”

“I don’t think so, I’d have to check with Betty.”

“Okay, she has practice Monday to Wednesday. So Thursday or Friday would be best.”

“I’ll tell better to just make it for Friday, seeing as we get Lily anyway.”

“Okay. I’ll let her know later, she’s probably waiting for me and is getting impatient.” I say, picking up the pace to my car.

“Okay, I’ll see you Friday.” Danny says with a wave.

“Finally, what took you so long?” Lily complains as I unlock the car. I shake my head and get in.

“Your mother showed up, she was talking to me.”

“About what?”

“Betty is taking you Friday to get fitted for a dress.”

“Oh, okay. That’s cool. Did mama say anything else?”

“That was pretty much it.” I say, pulling out the parking lot.

“Ms. Karnstein left already by the way, she pulled up next to the car when I was waiting. She said she was going to get a table.”

“Okay.”

“Is something happening between you two?” Lily asks with a smile as she looks down at her phone.

“I’m not saying anything.”

“You’re such a bad liar mom, there is! I can’t believe it!”

“Lily if you don’t stop shrieking I will cancel lunch with Carmilla.”

“No, please don’t do that.”

“Then shut it.”

“Okay.” She says, sitting back in her seat. We get to the diner and walk in to see Carmilla got us a booth in the corner. She smiles, waving us over. We get over to her and Lily sits down across from Carmilla while I decided to sit next to her, seeing as Lily knows now. Carmilla smiles and slides over more. “So how long have you two been a thing?” Lily blurts out before we even have a chance to settle.

“Almost a month.” Carmilla admits.

“That long and you didn’t tell me anything?”

“Lily look, Carmilla and I wanted to wait until the perfect moment to tell you. We wanted to make sure we were sure enough before we told you.” I explain.

“Your mother and I are still in the beginning stages of this anyway, there is no reason to get upset or annoyed that we didn’t tell you. We wanted to know it was the perfect moment before we told you. And we felt like now would be a good time to do it.”

“I get it, but I have questions.” Lily says, getting interrupted by the waitress taking our orders before continuing. “Now, if this is going to be a thing, like a constant thing, does that mean I get to call you Carm?”

“Only outside of school, yes.”

“Okay, does this mean I automatically ace everything?” Lily smiles.

“You’re doing that well enough on your own, kid.” Carmilla smile, taking a sip from her coffee as the waitress put it on the table.

“Yeah you’re right.” Lily says, taking a sip of her chocolate milk. “So you do think this is gonna stay a thing?” Carmilla and I look at each other for a moment, and smile.

“I think so.” I say, reaching for Carmilla’s hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully you're enjoying this work as much as I enjoy writing it :) If you have any questions, suggestions, concerns, you can talk to me on Tumblr: juli-with-a-chance or if you just want to drop by and say hi...


	4. Chapter 4

-Carmilla POV-

I wake up to the familiar scent of lilacs. I open my eyes to see honey colored hair in front of me, my arms wrapped around Laura loosely, I smile as I snuggle into her more, not wanting to let the feeling of being close to her go away. It has been two and a half months since we told Lily about us, something that ended up being better than anything on the world. Having these two girls in my life made me feel whole again. I feel Laura stir a bit, she turns in my arms and faces me, opening her eyes and smiling. “Morning.” She says, her voice thick with sleep.

“Good morning.” I whisper, kissing her forehead. “How did you sleep?”

“Like a baby.” She smiles, finally opening her eyes. There is nothing better than seeing someone, who you care for so much, waking up in the morning. It’s by far the best way to start the day. “What are you smiling at?”

“You’re adorable when you first wake up.” I smile, leaning down to kiss her.

“So are you.”

“What’s happening today?” I ask sitting up in my bed.

“I have to get Lily from Danny’s today, and she’s going to a friend’s house to do a project. I have to get a report together for Monday, and your mom wants me to go to a lunch meeting with her and a few of my co-workers.”

“You have a busy day.” 

“Pretty much, what are you doing?”

“Grading tests and papers. Nothing nearly as fun as what you’re up to.”

“I guess not. Are you going to tell your boss that you’re dating her daughter?”

“I don’t know. I think you should tell her.”

“I’ve told you before, I don’t really talk to her much.”

“So, you should tell her that you’re dating someone.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“What did she think about your past relationships?”

“My ex-wife she loved to death, she was upset when we broke up. My mother tried to blame it on me but it was clearly Alexis’ fault and not mine at all.”

“I don’t want to upset you, if you don’t want to talk about it, it’s okay.”

“No, I don’t mind talking about it. I just want some coffee and breakfast.” I chime, getting out of bed. “What do you want?”

“You can cook?”

“I make a mean French toast.” I smile, wiggling my eyebrows.

“French toast it is then.” Laura says, getting out of bed and following me the short distance of my studio apartment towards the kitchen area. “Wanna know something funny?”

“What is it?” I say as I turn on the coffee pot.

“I always wanted an apartment like this, but I was never given the chance to have time to myself to have one.”

“Why is that?”

“I lived home, went to college, met Danny, and lived with her for years until things fell apart. I was never given that chance to just be free.”

“Freedom isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be. It has its moments of being dull and uneventful.”

“I guess so. Unless you’re with the right person.” She shrugs, sitting down at the counter as I put a cup of coffee in front of her. “So are you going to go on with your story?”

“You’re eager.”

“I want to know more about you.”

“Alexis was going to school to be some kind of surgeon, she was like, super hot. Like Victoria’s Secret model type of hot.” I say, laughing when Laura rolls her eyes. “I was bartending while I went to school, we met at the bar I was working in at the time. One thing lead to another, I won’t go into details, and we dated for about a year before I proposed, we got married pretty quickly. We were together for about a year-ish. We planned to have kids, she wanted them, and I didn’t care as long as she was happy. We tried and she got pregnant right away. We were in the middle of a divorce when she had our baby, a little boy. We named him Owen; he was the cutest little guy in the world. So Alexis and I got divorced, I was allowed to see Owen whenever I wanted to, she didn’t try to keep me from him. One his first birthday, we all got together to celebrate, and something just didn’t seem right about him, he was sleeping a lot and his just didn’t look right. So the next day Alexis took him to the doctor and I get a phone call…” I take a breath and look up at Laura. “I get a phone call telling me to meet her at the hospital. I get there to see my son hooked up to all these machines and everything, he had an aggressive form of cancer, between getting diagnosed and the day he passed away, it was no more than six months.” I explain, fighting back tears. “That was five years ago and I still can’t help but cry over it occasionally.”

“You’re allowed to cry, Carm.” Laura says, getting up and wrapping her arms around me in a tight hug. “You’re allowed to cry about something like that all you want.”

“It’s just shitty to think that the kid barely experienced life, you know? I think teaching helps me cope; I get to shape the minds of all these kids and know that I’m making a difference in their lives. Then I run into students like Lily, I love seeing her learn, it’s as if she thrives on knowledge.” I say, wiping the tears from my eyes. “I just wish I could have had those moments of teaching him to talk and walk and all of that, I never got to experience that as a parent.”

“It’s not as fun as you think it is. There are moments where you second-guess yourself, especially when they get so mad at you and starting saying how much they hate you. It takes a lot to remember they Lily is just angry in that moment, and she really doesn’t mean what she’s saying to me. You never know what will happen in life, you may have the chance to be a parent.”

“Are you inferring something cupcake?” I tease, leaning in to kiss her softly, resting my forehead against hers.

“You never know what will happen.” She chimes, kissing me again. “You wanna know something?”

“What?”

“You’re supposed to be making me pretty awesome French toast, which there is a major lack of at the moment.” She teases.

“French toast, coming right up.” 

* * *

“Have fun at your meetings.” I chime, walking Laura out to her car.

“So much fun.” She says sarcastically, rolling her eyes. “I’ll see you later.”

“We should do dinner this week. You, me, and Lily.”

“That would be nice, I’ll run it by her and see what she says.”

“Don’t bother, you know she’ll say yes.”

“I know, but I still want to talk to her about it.”

“Okay.” I say quietly, leaning in to kiss her softly. “I’ll see you later.”

“Yes ma’am, I’ll call you when I’m done with my day.”

“Okay, I’ll be waiting. Well not waiting, but I will be looking forward to your call.” I ramble, watching Laura smile shyly. “What?”

“You’re cute when you ramble. I’ll talk to you later.” She says, kissing me quickly before getting into her car.

“Be careful!” I call out as she backs out of the parking lot.

 

-Laura POV-

“Hello Ms. Karnstein.” I smile, seeing as I was the first to arrive to lunch after her.

“Hello Laura, how are you?” She chimes.

“Very well thank you.”

“I’m glad you’re the first one here. I would like to ask you something.” 

“Anything Ms. Karnstein.”

“Well you can start by calling me Lilita. Now, I know that my daughter isn’t my biggest fan, but I was talking to my son yesterday and he keeps me updated on what’s happening in her life, and he told me that she was seeing someone, I asked him who, and unless there is another Laura Hollis around town, I could only assume that you were the girl in question.” She explains calmly. I swallow hard and look up to see a smirk on her face. “My daughter is an adult and can do whatever she wants to, but I was just a little surprised to find out that you and her have been an item for a short period of time now.”

“Y – Yeah, Carmilla and I have been dating for a little while now. She’s my daughter’s English teacher, and after weeks of turning her down, I gave in to her and the rest is history for the most part.”

“Is she being nice to you? Does she treat you well?”

“She treats me very well ma’am. Both me and my daughter.” 

“No matter how Carmilla carried herself, she was always a softy for those she cared for.” Lilita smiles. “I wish the two of you all the best."

“Thank you.” I smile, looking up to see some of my co-workers showing up, making Lilita revert back into her professional demeanor. Lunch conversation was very light and casual with the small talk of business and scheduling. After lunch when we were all walking out of the restaurant, Lilita pulled me aside.

“I would like to get together with you, Carmilla and your daughter. Whenever you are free. Maybe Carmilla will even invite you girls over during the holidays now. It would be nice to get to know you on a different level.”

“I would like that too Lilita.” I smile. “I’ll talk to Carmilla about it, as well as my daughter.”

“You can handle the arrangements then, if I talk about it Carmilla may take it the wrong way or turn it into something it isn’t.”

“No problem Lilita.” I say with a small wave. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“I will see you tomorrow.” She smiles walking in the direction of her car. 

* * *

 _“So how was your day?”_ Carmilla asks as I walk around the kitchen with my phone between my shoulder and my cheek.

“Good, tiring and long, but good.”

_“There is something you aren’t telling me.”_

“Your mother wants us to get together with her.”

_“Us as in…?"  
_

“You, me, and Lily. She wants us to do lunch and plan to get together for the holidays.”

_“My mother said that?”_

“Yes, Lilita herself said that.”

_“I don’t believe you.”_

“Funny, she told me that if she got a hold of you and tried to make a plan you wouldn’t have believed her.”

_“Well as of right now, I don’t believe either of you.”_

“Well trust me because I wouldn’t make that up. Now, you can call her and clarify or I’ll just take care of everything.”

_“Take control all you want, cupcake. I as long as I have you, it doesn’t matter to me.”_

“Okay.” I say with a smile. Carmilla and I talk for a bit more before Lily walks into the kitchen. “I have to go, Lily’s home.”

_“Okay, I’ll talk to you later.”_

“Bye.” I smile before hanging up my phone. “Hey sweetie.”

“Hey mom. Was that Carm?”

“Who else would I be?”

“I dunno who you talk to other than Carm.”

“Her mother wants us to go there during the holidays.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, well Lilita is my boss, so she already knows me enough to not make it weird, but she was very open to meeting you.”

“I think I met her once, she was scary.”

“Lilita has that tendency, just like Carmilla.” I laugh.

“Carmilla was so scary when I first walked into her class on the first day of school, I thought she was going to be such a mean teacher, but turns out she wasn’t.” Lily smiles.

“Did you tell any of the kids about Carmilla and I?”

“No, I know she doesn’t really want me to talk about it, so I didn’t tell anyone. Not even my friends.”

“Do you feel bad that you can’t talk about it?”

“Not really, it’s no one’s business.” Lily shrugs. “Besides as long as you’re happy, that’s all that matters.”

“I can tell that you can’t brag about it and it bothers you.”

“It’s whatever mom, as long as you’re happy that’s all I care about, it doesn’t matter that I can’t talk about it directly. I promise.”

“Okay. Did you finish up your project?”

“Yeah. Hopefully we’ll get a good grade.”

“I hope so too. Go wash up, I’m gonna start dinner.”

“Where’s grandpa and nana?”

“Doctor. Nana isn’t feeling too good. 

“Is everything okay?”

“They wouldn’t tell me anything yet. They’ll be home in time for dinner.”

“Okay.” Lily says, walking out of the kitchen. After about fifteen minutes, I hear my parents walking in through the front door; my dad walks into the kitchen and looks up at me, jumping a bit.

“Is everything okay?” I ask, watching as he shakes his head a bit.

“Come sit down. We have to talk.” Words no one ever wants to hear, a sign of bad news to come. I wipe my hands with the dishtowel and turn down the burners on the stove. I sigh and follow him into the living room while he calls up the stairs for Lily. I walk into the room and see my mom force a smile as I sit next to her on the couch.

“Is everything okay?” I ask, wrapping my arms around her hugging her tight.

“What’s wrong nana?” Lily asks, rushing into the room.

“Well, girls…” She says, taking one of our hands in each of hers. “You know I’ve been back and forth to doctors, and I’m just going to tell you out right rather than beating around the bush because I love the two of you more than anything in the world and you deserve to know right away. There is no reason why I shouldn’t tell you today and –”

“Sweetie, please just tell them. Now I know where Laura gets it from.” My dad says rolling his eyes a bit.

“I have cancer.”

“What?” I ask quietly.

“Are you gonna die?” Lily blurts out, her eyes welling with tears.

“Now, your nana is a strong lady. She’s going to put up the great fight and we’re going to try to get through this as best as possible.”

“So you are?” She asks, tears rolling down her cheeks.

“The doctors don’t think so, they’re going to help me as much as they can.” My mom says, wrapping her arm around Lily’s shoulder.

“I have to go.” I say, getting up from the couch and walking out the front door, making sure to grab my bag off the hook as I ignored everyone calling from the living room. I get in my car and drive, finding myself in front of Carmilla’s apartment not too long after. I knock on the door frantically, not letting up until I see Carmilla in front of me, a confused look on her face, her hair hanging loosely on her shoulders, she just got out of the shower by the looks of it. She furrows her brow when she looks me in the eyes.

“Something happened.” She says quietly, stepping forward and wrapping her arms around me tight. “What’s wrong?” She mumbles against my head as she leads me into her apartment, closing the door to get us away from the cold.

“My mom has cancer.” I mumble into her neck.

“I’m sorry to hear that Laura.” She whispers, kissing the side of my head. “I’m so sorry.”

“I don’t know what to do.”

“Some times you just have to deal with it. You have to deal with seeing your loved one fight the great fight.” Carmilla says, giving me a sad smile as she takes me hand and leads me towards the couch. “Do you want anything?”

“I want to just be with you.”

“What about Lily?”

“I walked out on her just now, I left her there. I just wanted to be with you. I’m a shitty parent for doing that, but I couldn’t help but think of being with you.”

“Let’s go back to your house.” Carmilla suggests. “You should be with your family. I’ll come with you. I’ll stay at your place tonight.”

“Okay.” I whisper, nodding a bit. She gets up from the couch and walks over to her wardrobe, pulling out some clothes and throwing them in a duffle bag before getting some things from the bathroom and so on, finally grabbling her messenger bag from the hook by the door.

“Ready when you are.” She smiles. I get up from the couch with a smirk, and walk over to her; I lean in and kiss her softly.

“You’re a dork.”

“I know. I’ll follow you to the house, I have to get up early tomorrow for work, and I don’t want to put that burden on you.”

“Okay.” I whisper, kissing her again. We get back to my house, I pulled into the driveway and Carmilla parked at the curb, I wait for her before walking into the house to find my dad was in the living room watching TV. “Hey.” I say, walking into the room. “This is Carmilla.”

“Pleasure to meet you sir, despite the circumstance. I’m terribly sorry to hear the news, I understand what cancer to do.” Carmilla explains, extending her hand for my father to take, he takes it hesitantly.

“You’re Carmilla. The one my daughter and granddaughter are so crazy for.”

“The one and only.” Carmilla chimes, letting go of his hand.

“I’m sorry dad, I just needed someone.”

“I understand, you don’t need to explain it to me.” He says, holding his hand up. “Your mother is sleeping, and Lily is in her room.”

“Okay.” I say, turning to go up the stairs.

“I don’t know how far you two are into your relationship, but you’re both adults and I’d like for you to have respect for my house.”

“Dad, don’t worry about that. We aren’t at that point.”

“Okay, good to know.” He says, shaking his head a bit. I lead Carmilla to my room and she puts her things down. I sit t the foot of the bed.

“Mom?” Lily says, poking her head in through the door. “Carmilla, what are you doing here?”

“Your mom wanted me to come by, I’m sorry about your grandma kid.”

“It’s okay, I mean, it’s not, but hopefully she’s going to get better.”

“It’ll be okay kiddo.” Carmilla smiles giving Lily a hug.

“Are we going to do something for dinner? Grandpa said the stuff on the stove burnt and I’m starving.”

“Order a pizza, get the money from my bag.” I say.

“Okay mom.” I look up to see Carmilla looking around the room intently.

“I haven’t found the heart to change some of it since I first moved out. I mean, a lot of the posters got taken down, some of the books on the shelf has changed, but other than that, nothing changed.” I explain.

“No matter what, there seems to be something that is still _you_ cupcake.” She smiles, walking over and sitting down next to me. She leans in and kisses me softly, she pulls away and rests her forehead against mine, and I sigh and feel a lump grow in my throat before allowing myself to finally cry into the crook of her neck.


	5. Chapter 5

-Laura POV-

I walk through the somber hallways of the hospital in search of my mother’s room. After finding the correct room, I walk in to find her asleep; I walk across the room, changing out the bouquet of flowers that were on the windowsill. I sigh and sit down in the chair next to her bed and take her hand in mine, rubbing my thumb against the back of her hand. “Hello sweetie.” My mother mumbles, a small smile forming on her face as she begins to wake up.

“Hey mom, how are you?”

“Tired, I feel like crap.”

“I wouldn’t think you’d feel good.”

“I’m getting sick of this place, I wanna come home.”

“Dad wants you home too, all of us do.”

“How are things with you and Carmilla?” She asks, pushing the button on the side of the bed to sit herself up a bit.

“We’re doing very well mom. I like her so much and she’s so good with Lily.”

“I can tell you love you.” 

“I – I don’t know if I’d say I love her, but I care for her deeply.”

“I know you don’t want to say that you love her just yet, it is a bit early, but I think you truly see yourself loving her.”

“When I’m ready to, I don’t know if I’m ready just yet.”

“If this is about Danny hurting you…”

“Of course it is mom, I mean, I know it was three years ago, but it still hurts.”

“Carmilla looks at you like you’re the only one in the room, I’ve seen it on several occasions since I met her, that woman will do nothing to harm you in anyway, if I thought she would I wouldn’t allow her to be with you and you know your father would have a fit.”

“Daddy would kill her.”

“Exactly, she isn’t going to hurt you, she adores you and Lily.”

“I know mom, I just still need a little time.” I say quietly.

“Take all the time you want, just know that she’s still going to be there, trust me when I tell you that.”

“I know, I know.” I sigh. The nurse walks in a few moments later, checking up on my mother before taking her to get some kind of scan done. We say goodbye and I make my way downstairs when my phone goes off, I look to see a text from Carmilla.

 _Carm:_ Hey, wanna grab lunch?

 _Me:_ Sure, where?

 _Carm:_ Pizza place around the corner from the school.

 _Me:_ See you soon.

I pull into the parking lot of the pizza place and see Carmilla sitting at a table next to the window. I walk up to the window and knock watching her jump and grab her chest in fear. She looks at me and scowls for a moment while I laugh at her, walking into the restaurant. “I hate you.” She says, meeting me at the door.

“You’re a bad lair.” I say, wrapping my arms around her. “Hey.”

“Hey.” She says quietly, kissing the side of my head. “Are you hungry?”

“Yeah, I’ll just have the same thing you’re having.” I say, reaching into my bag for my wallet.

“No, I got it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, don’t worry, just go sit. What do you want to drink?”

“Water.”

“Okay.” She smiles, walking up to the counter as I go and sit where she was sitting. She comes back and places a slice of pizza in front of me and a bottle of water before sitting across from me, and immediately digging into her lunch. “Sorry, I’m starving.”

“It’s fine, you’re on a time restraint anyway. How was Lily today?”

“I didn’t have her class yet. But she makes a point to see me every morning. She stops by and says good morning.”

“Oh does she?”

“Yeah, it’s nice.” Carmilla smiles. “How’s your mom?”

“As okay as she can be.” I shrug. “I saw her when you texted me, she was feeling alright, and going in for a scan when I was leaving.”

“Hopefully she’s okay.”

“Yeah.” I say quietly.

“Are you busy tonight?”

“I have work.”

“Before work.”

“Lily has practice, it’s Tuesday.”

“Do you stay for her practice?”

“Not usually, but when it’s indoor I tend to stay. I would ask you to go, but Lily said some of her teammates have been mentioning things about you and I, so it’s starting to get obvious now.”

“I don’t care anymore. If the kids want to say something about it, I don’t care.”

“So what are you saying?”

“I want to go to Lily’s practice. I want to spend time with the two of you and if that’s the only way I can do it during the week then so be it.” I smile at her, something about her determination to be with Lily and I made my heart swell because it was something she wanted that Danny never did. “What?”

“You’re determination to be with Lily and I makes me happy.”

“Good.” She smiles with a nod. We finish our lunch in relative silence, Carmilla looking at her watch every couple of minutes. “I have to go cupcake.” She says, getting up from the table and taking my empty plate. I get up from the table and follow her out to the parking lot. “Thank you for having lunch with me.” She smiles, taking my hands in hers.

“Not a problem, I enjoy my time with you.”

“Good.” She says, leaning in to kiss me softly. “I’ll talk to you later.” She whispers, kissing me again.

“I’ll let you know what’s happening.”

“Okay.”

“Have a good class, tell Lily I said hello.”

“I will.” She says with a laugh, kissing me again.

 

-Carmilla POV-

“Don’t forget to read, you’ll have a quiz on chapters twelve through fourteen tomorrow.” I say as everyone begins putting their stuff away when the bell rings. “Hollis, come here!” I call out from behind my desk.

“Yes Ms. Karnstein.”

“Your mother says hello.”

“That’s weird to say.” She says cocking an eyebrow.

“Your mom and I had lunch and she told me to tell you that.” I chime, sitting back in my chair.

“Oh, okay.”

“Your mom said something about practice tonight, I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind me going?”

“No, you can come. It would be cool to have you and mom there, my mama never goes to my practices, it’s not fair some times.” She says, looking down at her feet.

“If you really don’t mind, I guess I’ll see you later on.”

“Did mom tell you where it is?”

“She said she’d let me know later.”

“Okay, I’ll see you later.”

“See you later kid.”

 

-Laura POV-

I’m standing at the edge of the field, watching Lily dribble the ball up and down the field while she waited for her coach and team to get to practice. Since starting the sport at the toddler level, she was always an overachiever at it, she always wanted to be out there playing and practicing. I feel someone tap me on the shoulder; I turn to see Carmilla standing next to me with a smile and two cups in her hand. “Hey.” She smiles, leaning in to kiss me quickly, handing me one of the cups. “Coffee.”

“Thank you.” I smile, kissing her again.

“Does she always start out by herself?”

“Yeah, she does this for about ten or fifteen minutes before everyone else is supposed to get here. That’s what makes her the best on the team.”

“You must be a proud mama bear.”

“The proudest.” I smile, taking a sip from my cup.

“Hi Carm.” Lily chimes, jogging over to us.

“Hey Hollis. How are you?”

“Good.” Lily says as she digs into her bag, pulling out a bottle of water. “Are you coming over later?”

“I don’t think so, I have to grade your quizzes from today. I didn’t do that yet.”

“Oh, you should come over tomorrow.”

“Lily, go practice.”

“No one is here yet.”

“Lily, _now_.” I warn. She sighs, turning on her heels and jogging back onto the field.

“What has your panties in a knot?” Carmilla asks.

“Nothing, I just hate when she gets forward.”

“She’s a kid. A very rambunctious kid.”

“I know, I just don’t like when she does stuff that like, it puts us on the spot and it isn’t right.”

“Calm down.” Carmilla says, wrapping her arms around me.

“I just need to find my own place.” I mumble into her chest.

“You will before you know it, and you’ll be needing my immense strength to help you out.” She says with a chuckle that vibrated her chest before kissing the top of my head.

“You seem as strong as a toddler.”

“Really now.” She says, cocking an eyebrow, she takes my coffee and places in on the bench next to hers before she bends down slightly and lifting my over she shoulder as she runs around Lily on the field.

“Carmilla put me down.” I shriek, pounding at her backside. She does as I tell her and looks at me with a grin. “I hate you.”

“No you don’t.” She chimes, kissing me softly only to pull away when Lily nearly hits us in the head with her ball. “Did you really just do that?”

“Do what?”

“Lily Jane Hollis.” I warn, watching her eyes widen in fear.

“I’m sorry mom, I really didn’t mean to.”

“Hollis! Get over here you over achiever!” Her coach calls out.

“Bye.” She says, running towards the far end of the field while Carmilla and I walk back to the bench in the corner.

“So, do you believe my awesome strength now?” Carmilla asks as we sit down on the bench. Carmilla wraps her arm around my shoulders.

“You are unbelievable.”

“You like it.”

“Eh.”

“My mother called me earlier. She wants you and Lily over for Christmas Eve. She even said your dad can come if he wants to, and your mom if she’s able to.”

“I’ll talk to them about it, but Lily and I will be up for going. Don’t you think it’s early to meet your family though?”

“You know my mother, and it’s practically part office party anyway when she holds Christmas Eve at the house, you’ve met my brother and his daughter, besides, we’ve been a thing for three months now, we’re adults aren’t the rules a bit different anyway?”

“I don’t know about the rules.”

“Well I want to have you over anyway. I’m beginning to care for you very deeply, as well as Lily.”

“I’m beginning to care for you deeply too.” I say quietly, looking up at her to see her smile shyly. “What?”

“Nothing.” She shakes her head slightly as she leans in to kiss me. We sat in out own little bubble, until Lily came running over and slamming into me with a laugh.

“You stink Lil!” I say, shoving her off of me.

“I need a shower and a cookie.”

“And you’re getting both in that order when we get home.”

“Is Carm coming home?”

“I can’t kiddo. I have some things to do, I told you already.”

“Okay.” She sighs, stepping back as Carmilla and I stand up and make our way out of the building.

“Take the keys and start the car.” I say, handing them to Lily. “Don’t drive away.”

“I won’t!”

“I’ll call you later.” Carmilla smiles as she places her hands on my waist.

“I guess so.”

“You guess so? Then I won’t call you at all.” She scoffs playfully. 

“It’s okay, I have another call to wait around for.”

“You’re evil Hollis.” I couldn’t help but laugh as I leaned in to kiss her softly. “You’re lucky you’re a good kisser.”

“As are you, the other person isn’t as good at it.” I tease.

“I’ll see you later.”

“Of course.”

* * *

“Laura.” I hear my dad call out.

“Yeah.” He walks into the kitchen and sighs. “Is everything okay?”

“No.” He mumbles, shaking his head. “The last scan they did, it spread. They’re doing all they can, but I don’t think it’s going to be much longer.”

“We’ll be okay.” I say, walking over to him and wrapping my arms around him, holding him tight.

“I’ve never been with anyone else but your mother. She was my first everything in life.”

“I know dad, you’ve told me the stories.” I say trying to be light hearted.

“I’ll never love anyone as much as I love your mother, I just want you to know that.”

“I know dad.” I whisper as he begins to breakdown in my arms. I let him cry for a while, seeing my dad cry is one of the hardest things I think I’ve ever seen, there is nothing more heartbreaking than seeing a parent grieve over the loss of another parent, to know that they are both so young and are losing their soul mate makes me so sad for him and my mother. It’s one thing to be dying, that is something some one has the inevitable horizon to look to on their own, but to witness that person die before your eyes, that is so much harder.

“I’m gonna go lay down, I have to go into work early tomorrow, I have to keep myself occupied the doctor said. It’ll be better for me if I do.” He says, wiping his eyes with the back of his hands.

“You don’t have to explain yourself to be dad.” I say with a smile.

“I know kiddo. I love you Laura.”

“I love you too. Oh dad, would you mind if Carmilla came over?”

“Sweetie, you’re a grown up, your friends and lovers can come and go as they please, you don’t have to ask me.”

“I just like you to know then, Carmilla is coming over.”

“Okay, just no funny business, Lily and I both don’t need to hear it.” He says with a small smile.

“Don’t worry about that dad.” I say, rolling my eyes.

“Okay sweetie.”

“Oh, and Lily is sleeping over her friend’s and Danny is picking her up tomorrow for the rest of the weekend, so she won’t be home until some time Sunday.”

“Okay!” He says as he walks up the stair. Not too long after that there is a knock on the door. I walk over and open the door to see Carmilla standing on the porch with an overnight bag and her messenger bag.

“Hey.” She chimes, stepping forward to kiss me.

“Hey.”

“How are you?”

“Nothing new, some old.” I shrug, closing the door and helping her out of her coat.

“How’s your mom?”

“She isn’t doing too good.” I take her by her hand and lead her up to my room. She puts her bags down and lies beside me on the bed. “They don’t think she’s going to get better.”

“I’m sorry cupcake.”

“It is what it is, all they can do is try.”

“I know but still. It sucks losing someone to something so terrible.” She whispers, reaching over to tuck a stand of hair behind my ear. “It isn’t fair.”

“No it isn’t.”

“You’re allowed to cry about it, I’m here cupcake.”

“It’s not fair.” I cry, burying my face in the crook of her neck as she holds me tighter. She kisses my forehead and whispers nothings in my ear, trying to calm me down. “I love her so much and to think she had to get some shitty disease…”

“I know cupcake, trust me. You feel so helpless and they seem so hopeless, it – it isn’t fair at all.”

“How long have we been a thing?” I ask out of the blue, causing Carmilla to look at me slightly confused.

“Uhm, eight weeks or so, if you want to be precise, why?”

“I think we should make it official in the sense of putting a label to us.”

“I already refer to you as my girlfriend to my friends.” She says with a smile.

“Oh really now?”

“Yeah, I didn’t know what else to day, I mean, I didn’t want you to be ‘the woman I’m seeing’ it’s easier to say girlfriend. Are you mad?”

“No, I’m not. The only person that I told was Laf.”

“Wait, Laf as in LaFontaine the science teacher that has a tendency of setting the fire alarm off?”

“The one and only, I told them and their partner Perry. I’ve known them both for a really long time.”

“I didn’t know that. Hell I work with LaFontaine and didn’t know you two were friends. Then again they run the other way when I walk past and they’re in a different department.”

“Yeah, I don’t see them as much as I used to, but we try to keep in touch as much as possible. Anyway, we have a title then according to our social circles, but not each other.”

“Well, if you want me to make you feel better, Laura Hollis, will you be my girlfriend?” She asks with a wide smile.

“Of course.” I laugh, leaning in to kiss her softly.


	6. Chapter 6

-Carmilla POV-

“Is she coming sweetie?” My mother asks as I look out the window of the dining room out into the front yard.

“She said she was mother, but I don’t know when.” I sigh, closing the curtain.

“Well, she’s the only one I’m giving leeway to for being late.”

“Thank you mother.” I smile, crossing my arms over my chest and making my way into the living room to fix myself something to drink. The house was packed for mother’s annual Christmas Eve party, something Laura never mad an appearance at despite being invited for several years. After fixing something to drink I hear the doorbell ring, I rush over and open it, finding Laura and Lily standing on the porch. “Hey, Lily put your coat in that closet and you can go into the basement where the kids are, you’ll find a few your age. Go down the hall, the last door on the right.” I say, watching her rush off and disappear. “And you…” I say, grabbing Laura by the waist. “Can tell me what’s wrong.” I whisper, pulling her into the house and closing the door, I help her out of her coat and kiss her on the cheek before taking her hand in mine and leading her towards the library for some privacy, seeing as the house was packed with different people, and that was the only room that never seemed to have anyone gravitate towards it. “Hey.” I whisper, kissing her softly as I close the door behind us.

“Hey.” She says, holding me tight.

“Is everything okay? Don’t tell me it is, I see it in your eyes something is wrong.”

“Mom isn’t good, and dad is with her today and tomorrow. He doesn’t want to leave her side. I – I feel bad that I’m here and not with her.”

“You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to.”

“I want to be with you though, I don’t want to be away from you.”

“Then stay, when you feel like you want to go, just go. I’ll understand.”

“I don’t deserve someone like you.” She says quietly, leaning in to kiss me.

“Someone who actually gives a shit about you, someone who cares for you so deeply, they can’t go a single moment of the day without talking to you. Someone who will do absolutely anything for you?”

“Exactly.” She whispers, kissing me again.

“You deserve all of that and more, cupcake.”

“You’re really up for being that person that gives me more, aren’t you?”

“You bet I am, I don’t see myself being with anyone other than you.” I say, caressing her cheek. “Did I ever tell you how beautiful you are?”

“Once or twice.”

“I want to tell you every day.”

“You sound like a Nicholas Sparks novel.” Laura teases, leaning in to kiss me again.

“Well, I have my moments.” I shrug as Laura moves to straddle me.

“I know you do. You’re a romantic, aren’t you Carmilla?”

“What gave it away?”

“Not by first looking at you, that’s for sure.”

“It’s part of my air of mystery, I can’t give everything away.” I whisper, leaning in to kiss her.

“So this is why you were hiding out.” Mattie chimes as she walks into the room. “You must be the girl that has my sister all happy-go-lucky.”

“This is Laura. Laura, this is my sister Mattie.” I say as Laura climbs off of me.

“Nice to meet you.” Laura says, her cheeks turning pink with slight embarrassment.

“I can see you’re keeping little Mircalla here occupied.”

“Don’t tease her, she’s not having the best day.” I say, taking Laura’s hand in mine.

“Mother was looking for you, she wanted to know if the little moppet made it.”

“I’ll go let her know.”

“Ta, ta.” Mattie chimes, waving over her shoulder as she walks out of the room.

“Come on cupcake, let’s go tell her you’re here.”

“What are you doing tomorrow?” Laura asks quietly as we walk around looking for mother.

“I don’t think I’m doing anything, why?”

“Would you like to spend Christmas with me? Lily is going to be with Danny, and my dad is going to be at the hospital all day, something I can’t bring myself to doing. I would like to spend the day with you, if it isn’t too much to ask.”

“Not at all Laura, I would love to spend the day with you.” I smile, leaning in to kiss her softly.

“Don’t over dress like you’re going somewhere for Christmas, just dress comfortably, I’ll cook for us and we’ll just watch movies. I have to unpack still and seeing as Lily won’t be home, I’ll be able to get a lot done.”

“Sounds perfect.” I say, kissing her again.

“Hello Laura.” Mother chimes, walking over and hugging Laura.

“Hello Lilita, thank you again for inviting my daughter and I.”

“Not a problem, where is she?”

“She’s downstairs with the kids, probably having a lot more fun than she would be up here.”

“I’ll make sure she sees you before we leave.” Laura smiles.

“Okay. So there is food in the kitchen, drinks in the dining room, help yourself and don’t be shy.” Mother smiles, raising her drink to us and walking back into the crowd of people.

“Do you want anything?”

“Food, I haven’t eaten all day.” Laura sighs; I take her hand in mind and lead her into the kitchen where mother has set up a full buffet of everything you could think of.

“Mother likes to be traditional, so there is the whole seven fishes bit over there if that’s something you want, there’s fettuccini, you name it, mother has it.”

“Cookies?”

“Those come out for the dessert buffet.” I smile, kissing the side of her head 

“Carmilla Karnstein is partaking in PDA?” I hear a familiar voice chime from behind me, I turn to see my best friend Ell standing in the doorway with her hand over her mouth in mock shock. “Who are you and what have you done with my friend?”

“Shut up. Laura, this is my good friend Ell, Ell this is Laura.”

“You’re the Laura that has this walking brooder in a tailspin of love?”

“The one and only, nice to meet you.” Laura smiles, extending her hand for Ell to take.

“Nice to meet you too. At least someone got Carmilla out of her slump, and I’m happy to hear that is was you, she has nothing but amazing things to say about you and your daughter, I would like to thank you for giving my friend her happiness back.” Ell says, looking at me with a smile.

“Shut up you sappy pain in the ass.” I say, shoving Ell playfully.

“What it’s true, don’t try to be all tough, you’ve been caught with heart eyes already, your image is shattered.”

“Yeah, yeah. Laura get something to eat and we’ll move this discussion into the dining room.” Laura smiles, kissing me quickly before filling up her plate.

“Are you going to have anything?”

“I’ll pick from your plate.”

“Oh no you won’t, get your own plate, there’s enough here.”

“I like her, she’s feisty.”

“I like that about her too.” I chime, filling my own plate. We walk into the dining room, happy to find it nearly empty aside from the people walking in and out to make themselves drinks. “What do you want cupcake?”

“Water please, I don’t want to have anything too strong, I have to drive Lily and I home.”

“I understand; you don’t need to explain.”

“So, how did you two really meet? Carmilla never gives me the right story.”

“Well what is the story she told you?”

“You met on the line of a Starbucks and ordered the same drink.”

“That’s a lie, I don’t drink coffee that tastes like mud.”

“Well then.” I say, placing Laura’s drink in front of her before sitting down. 

“We met at my daughter’s school. She punched a kid that was chanting something about Donald Trump; I was called in, Carmilla vouched for Lily saying she was in the right. Then I’m convinced Lily and Carmilla joined up and convinced me to date Carmilla, my daughter wouldn’t leave me alone, Carmilla wouldn’t leave me alone, I eventually gave in, and it was the best thing I could have ever done.” Laura smiles, placing her hand on my thigh and leaning in to kiss me.

“You two are gross.” Ell grimaces. “I love it.”

“Good, because if you didn’t I may have to disown you.” I say with a laugh. The rest of the evening went by enjoyably. Laura and I were inseparable; she would talk to some of her co-workers and introduce me, some knowing I was the boss’s daughter, other intimidated by the fact that Laura was dating the boss’s daughter. “Do you want me to get Lily?”

“Yeah, she’s still downstairs. I forgot that I haven’t seen her at all.”

“Mother had a whole spread set up for the kids downstairs, and my aunt offered to keep things in check, so I doubt anything awful happened. I’ll be right back.” I say, kissing her cheek. I walk over to the door that leads downstairs and called out for Lily, she was at the bottom of the stairs instantly. “You’re going home kid.”

“Really? Where’s mom?”

“She’s waiting for you up here, say goodbye.” Lily sighs as disappears before making her way up the stairs, stomping in annoyance. “Hey, don’t stomp, it’s not nice.”

“I don’t want to go.”

“It’s late kid, you have to go, and Santa’s coming tonight.”

“Yeah, yeah. I made friends, I don’t want to go.” Lily says when she walks up to Laura.

“You’ll see them again, don’t worry. We have to go though, you have to get up early tomorrow to go with mama.”

“I don’t wanna go with her, I don’t like grandpa and grandma.”

“I never liked them either, but you have to do it.”

“Fine. Is Carmilla gonna come over tomorrow?”

“We’ll see what happens kiddo.” I say with a smile. I help Laura into her coat while Lily makes sure to day goodnight to my mother and thanking her.

“I’ll see you later.” Laura smiles, wrapping her scarf around her neck.

“I will see you tomorrow, just let me know when.” I say quietly, leaning in to kiss her softly. “Thank you for coming.”

“I’m happy I was invited. It was nice to go to one of these things, I was invited enough times.”

“Imagine if you showed your face around here sooner, this relationship would have been kick started earlier.”

“But timing is everything some times.”

“That is true.” I smile; getting pushed into Laura what Lily pushes into me with a tight hug.

“Thank you for having us over, I liked meeting all of your nieces and nephews, and the other kids that were here. I had so much fun.” She says excitedly.

“That’s what I like to hear, I’ll see you later kiddo.”

“See you later.” She chimes, hugging me again before walking out the door.

“I’ll talk to you when I get home.” Laura says, walking towards the door.

“Okay.” I smile, kissing her again before watching her walk out to her car.

 

-Laura POV-

“Merry Christmas mom!” Lily shouts, running into my room and jumping onto the bed.

“Merry Christmas sweetie.” I chime, half asleep. “Go into the living room, don’t touch anything, I will be out there soon.” I sit up in bed, still getting used to the surrounding of the new apartment we were able to move into just two short weeks before the holiday. Boxes still scattered around, things still not where they belonged, but all that mattered was that Lily and I had a place to call our own. I get out of bed and walk into the rather large living room, the one thing I loved about the apartment was the open floor plan, so the kitchen and living area were one large room at the front of the apartment, and the bedrooms and bathroom were towards the back. I look over to see Lily looking over the small pile of gifts that were under the tree as I walk into the kitchen, turning on the coffee pot for me, and the kettle to make Lily cocoa.

“Mom? Can I open anything yet?”

“Not yet, wait a few minutes.” I say looking at the clock on the wall to see it was nearly nine-thirty. Moments later there is a knock on the door and I smile.

“Who’s that?”

“You can answer it.” I say, fixing our drinks. Lily gets up and opens the door, her mouth drops when she sees Carmilla standing in the doorway holding a small, white kitten in her arms.

“Is that for me?” Lily asks, looking at Carmilla with awe.

“I dunno, I thought your mom wanted a white kitten with a black stripe between his ears. I must have been wrong.” Carmilla says playfully, handing the sleeping kitten over to Lily.

“Thank you so much mom.” She says, rushing over to give me a hug. “I wanted a kitten so bad. Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

“I know sweetheart, you’re welcome. This little guy is your responsibility; you’re to make sure his litter box is clean, he has clean food and water, and that we take him to the vet on time. You don’t have to spend you allowance on food or litter, anything like that, you can buy him toys with it, but I will take care of everything else.”

“Thank you so much. Thank you too Carm for bringing him to me.”

“No problem. Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas.” Lily says, walking over to the tree and putting the kitten in the floor. “I have to think of an awesome name for you. He is a boy right?”

“Yep, he’s a boy.” Carmilla says, walking up next to me. “Hey.”

“Hey.” I smile, kissing her softly. “Merry Christmas.” I hold up a cup of coffee for her and she smiles.

“Thank you cupcake, Merry Christmas.”

“Can I open my presents now?”

“Yes, you can open your presents now.” I say, walking over and sitting down on the couch. “Your cocoa.” I add, placing it on the coffee table close to Lily.

“Thank you. I think I’m gonna name him Miles.”

“You can name him whatever you want to kiddo.”

“So, he is Miles.” Lily announces, holding the little guy like Rafiki holding Simba in _The Lion King_ , only to begin humming ‘The Circle of Life’. She puts Miles back in her lap, he jumps out and walking over to one of the overturn boxes, making himself comfortable and falling back to sleep. “He doesn’t like me.”

“He’ll get used to you shorty, don’t worry.” Carmilla says. “He’s still a kitten, he gets tired quickly.

“I guess so.”

“Start opening your gifts, your mother will be here soon.” I say, sitting back on the couch with Carmilla wrapping her arm around my shoulder, something about this feeling extremely domestic. I turn to Carmilla and smile, leaning in to kiss her softly. 

“Mom, where should I set Miles up?”

“Keep his dish in the kitchen next to the fridge and the litter box we’ll set up on my office.”

“Okay.” She says, taking the gifts that were wrapped for Miles and setting them up where she was told. After that, Lily went through a few more of her gifts before having to get dressed to go with Danny. “Wait! I got Carmilla something.” Lily chimes, reaching behind the tree to get something.

“You didn’t have to get me anything, kid.”

“We wanted to.” I smile, turning to face her as Lily hands Carmilla the box.

“Thank you guys.” Carmilla smiles, pulling away the paper and opening the box to reveal a leather messenger bag with the letters ‘CK’ stitched in big, red letters on the flap. “Oh, you didn’t have to do this.”

“We wanted to, I’m sick of seeing that beaten up fabric one of yours. It must be harboring millions of colonies of germs.” I grimace, shaking my head at the thought.

“I love that bag, but I am very grateful for my new bag. Thank you.” She smiles, leaning in to kiss me before wrapping Lily up in a hug. “Get going before your mom gets here.”

“Okay, okay.” Lily sighs, walking off to her room with Miles trotting behind her.

“I got you something too by the way.” Carmilla whispers in my ear.

“Oh really?”

“Yeah, let me just get it out of the germ colonies.” I roll my eyes and smile, reaching for the small box when all of a sudden there is a knock on the door. “To be continued.”

“Hopefully shortly.” I say, kissing her quickly as I get up and answer the door to see Danny standing in the doorway with a small smile.

“Merry Christmas.” She smiles.

“Merry Christmas, Danny. Lily should be done in a minute.” I say, stepping aside for her to walk into the apartment.

“Not a problem. Hello Carmilla.”

“Hey.” An awkward silence fills the air, something that always happened on the very rare occasions that Carmilla and Danny were in the same room together for more than thirty seconds.

“Hi mama, I got a kitten for Christmas! His name is Miles!” Lily announces as she walks into the room.

“Cool, we have to go.”

“Bye mom, I’ll see you later.” She says, giving me a tight hug before making her way over to Carmilla and hugging her.

“Have fun kid.” Carmilla smiles as Lily and Danny leave the apartment. The air falling back to normal the minute she closes the door. “Okay, the giant is gone, open the gift.”

“Don’t be mean.”

“I can’t tell what you saw in her, but you had to look up to see it. Your neck must have hurt a lot.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I roll my eyes walking towards the couch; she grabs me by my waist and pulls me on top of her.

“Open.” She whispers, holing a neatly wrapped gift in her hand. I sit up, straddling her lap and taking the box from her hands. I rip away the paper careful, putting Carmilla I suspense. “Open it.” She whines, poking me in the side. I laugh, leaning down to kiss her before tearing at the remaining paper and opening the box. I move away the tissue paper inside to reveal a tiny gold heart necklace, something about it was old, but it was beautiful either way.

“It’s beautiful Carm. Thank you.” I whisper, kissing her softly.

“It was my grandmother’s, I was told when I was ready to give it to someone, it better be someone important that I give it to.”

“I’m important to you.”

“No, Lily is, it would have been weird if I gave it to her.” She teases.

“I hate you sometimes.”

“No you don’t, you love me.” Carmilla says, her cheeks turning pink at what she just said. “I mean I’m sure you don’t love me. But if you did it would be okay, I mean…” I kiss her again to silence her this time.

“I do love you.” I whisper against her lips.

“I love you too cupcake.” Hearing the words made my heart swell a bit. They were words that I haven’t heard in years, something I actually missed hearing. All I could do was kiss her with everything I had, showing her just how much I loved her.

“I have something for you too.”

“Aside from the bag?” She asks, sitting up when I get off of her.

“Yes, aside from the bag, I mean you kept Miles at your house, think of it as a repay gift.”

“Okay.” I hand her a box and she holds it up to her ear and shakes it.

“Gee, I wonder what it is.”

“Just open it you dork.” Carmilla smiles as she rips away at the paper, she turns the book over to look at the front of it. “You got me a new copy of _The Canterbury Tales_?”

“You were complaining about how yours was slowly getting destroyed, I mean, I’ve seen your old copy, it’s held together by scotch tape for God’s sake.”

“Thank you cupcake. I love and appreciate your thoughtfulness.”

“You’re welcome. What are we going to do for the rest of the day?”

“Watch Christmas movies and eat, what do you want?”

“Whatever you want to make. Have you talked to your mom yet?”

“I spoke to her last night when I got home from the party, she’s not doing well.”

“We should go see her.”

“You want to?”

“Yeah, why not. I’d like to see her before I don’t have the chance to, may the powers that be forbid anything from happening to her.”

“I’ll throw something on and we’ll go see her.”

“Okay, I’ll drive so you don’t have to think about it.”

“Thank you.” I smile, kissing her quickly before getting dressed.

* * *

Carmilla and I walk through the hallways of the hospital hand in hand, we come across my mother’s room and walk in to find her watching TV and my father asleep in the chair next to her. “Merry Christmas mom.” I say, walking up to her and giving her a quick hug after Carmilla and I put on our face masks.

“What a nice surprise sweetie. Please, takes those things off, I’m fine, I don’t care what they say anymore.” We pull them off and smile. “There we go, my beautiful girl and her smile. I love you so much.”

“I love you too mom.”

“How are you girls? Are you taking care of my Laura?”

“Of course I am, you have nothing to worry about.” Carmilla smiles wrapping her arm around my waist. 

“Good, Lily is with Danny?”

“Yeah, I’ll bring her up here tomorrow to say hello.”

“I don’t want her seeing me like this, you don’t have to bring her here if she doesn’t want to.”

“If she wants to, I don’t want to deny her seeing you.”

“Of course not, I know that. I just don’t want you forcing her.”

“I would never force her mom, don’t worry.”

“What are you two doing here?” My dad says through a yawn.

“Merry Christmas to you too dad.”

“Merry Christmas girls.” He smiles, getting up and pulling Carmilla and I into a big hug. “Was Santa good to you?”

“Of course he was dad. Lily got a kitten, she’ll want to tell you all about him tomorrow.”

“Animals are allowed in the apartment?”

“Under eighty pounds for dogs, but cats were always allowed and the better choice if you ask me.”

“I agree. She was happy I’m assuming?”

“She was beyond happy, she names him Miles, but again, Lily will want to tell you about him.”

“Okay. How is the apartment? Everything okay, nothing falling apart?”

“No dad, and you know if Carmilla can’t fix it, I will call you right away.” I tease, causing everyone to laugh.

“Okay, okay.” He says, putting his hands up in surrender.

“I love you daughter, sir, I wouldn’t want anything to happen to her or Lily.”

“So you’ve finally admitted it?” Mom chimes from her bed.

“Yes mom, I admitted it to her this morning.” I sigh, rolling my eyes at her.

“Good, you have fulfilled one of my dying wishes.” She says light-heartedly.

“At least she can die happy now.” My dad laughs, trying to bring in light on a shitty situation.

“Well, I want you both to know that your granddaughter and daughter are in the best hands you could wish for.” Carmilla says sincerely.

“I would like to thank you personally from the bottom of my heart.” My mother says with tears in her eyes. “After that cheating giant made a fool out of Laura, I thought she was never going to find someone who would treat her properly, and then you came along and I can’t thank you enough for giving my daughter what she deserves in such a short amount of time.” She says with a small smile.

“I love your daughter way too much to ever hurt her. She is safe with me, and so is Lily, not only do I enjoy teaching her, but I enjoy watching her grow into the amazing young lady she is each and every day.”

“Thank you Carmilla.” My dad says, giving her a hug.

“You’re welcome, and thank you both for trusting me with your family.”

“I wouldn’t want it any other way.” Dad says, wiping a single tear from his eye. Carmilla turns to look at me, and smiles, I lean in and kiss her hard, but lovingly.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I've decided that instead of doing short, frequent chapters, I'm going to do longer, less frequent chapters. (Not that it matters to everyone, but if I don't post a chapter for over a week, it's because I want decent content, not because I didn't have a good idea.) Either way, I hope you enjoyed this chapter :)


	7. Chapter 7

-Laura POV-

“Hey cupcake.” Carmilla chimes, walking into the apartment; she walks up behind the couch and kisses me quickly. “Where’s Lily?”

“She’s with Danny.”

“Oh, was that a spur-the-moment thing? She’s never with Danny today.”

“Yeah, Danny insisted on taking her ice-skating today.” I say, closing my laptop.

“Oh, okay. How are you?”

“I’m alright, I have to get ready to go to work tonight.”

“That’s no fun.” Carmilla whines, sitting next to me on the couch.

“No it’s not.” I say, resting my head on her shoulder. Carmilla wraps her arms around me and kisses the top of my head. I begin to feel myself relax when my phone starts ringing on the coffee table. “Hello?”

 _“Laura, hey. Not to freak you out but Lily kinda fell and we’re on our way to the hospital.”_ Danny says calmly, causing me to sit up fast and rush around trying to find my shoes.

“How am I not supposed to freak out Danny? What happened? Is she okay? I swear if something happened to her you will not be allowed to see her for a very long time!”

_“We’re just getting her checked out, she’ll be okay.”_

“She won’t be okay, my daughter is going to the hospital because of the incompetence of her mother!” I shout, hanging up the phone and tossing it in my bag.

“Laura, calm down.” Carmilla says, walking up to me and wrapping her arms around my waist. I look at her and start to cry.

“I don’t want anything to happen to her, Carm. She’s my baby, I don’t want to know that she’s hurt.”

“I know. She’ll be okay, she’s a Hollis; you guys are stronger than you think. I’ll drive okay, I don’t want you driving while you’re like this.” She says, wiping away my tears with her thumbs.

“Thank you.” I say, kissing her softly. I rush into the emergency room, barely giving Carmilla time to stop before I begin to jump out of the car.

“Can I help you?” The security guard asks.

“My daughter was being brought in my by ex-wife.”

“Go to that desk over there.”

“Thank you.” I smile, rushing over.

“Yes ma’am?”

“My daughter was brought in by my ex-wife.” The nurse looks at me with distain at the tidbit of mentioning my ex-wife. “I don’t have time for you to be disgusted by my life choices and personal business, my daughter!”

“Name?” The nurse says, rolling her eyes.

“Hollis, Lily Hollis.”

“You can go back, she’s in room three. Oh, you can’t go back there.” She says when Carmilla stats following me.

“I’ll stay here, you go. I’ll wait.”

“Thank you.” I say, kissing her on the cheek, catching the nurse grimace again. I walk through the ER looking for room three, when I find it; I open the door to see Danny sitting in a chair and Lily nowhere to be found. “Where is she?”

“She’s getting an X-Ray of her ankle, they think it’s broken.” She says not wanting to make eye contact with me. I take a deep breath and smack her arm hard. “Ow! Look I’m sorry, it’s not like I pushed her; she lost her balance and slipped.”

“Lily is going to be out for the rest of the indoor season you jerk! She loves soccer, this is going to crush her!”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think she would fall, she never fell before and today she just slipped and fell.”

“Yeah, and now she’s going to be upset if it is broken. I really hate you.” I say, moving the other chair away from her and sitting down with a huff.

“No you don’t.”

“Yes, I do. I hate you for several reasons, and now put hurting Lily on that list.”

“Do you love her?”

“I do. Not that it’s any of your business. You left me for Betty, remember?”

“Yeah, I do. Someone got the big promotion she wanted and was never home anymore.”

“Don’t put this around on me, it isn’t my fault you’re a cheater, you chose to cheat, you just want to use my promotion as an excuse.”

“Because you were never home!”

“I’m not having this discussion with you.” I snap.

“Mom!” Lily says as the nurse pushes her back into the room, she jumps on one foot towards the bed and lies down.

“Hey sweetie.” I jump up, walking over to kiss her forehead.

“Is Carm here?”

“Yeah, they wouldn’t let her come back here though, she’s waiting in the waiting room, and probably freaking out.”

“Yeah, I wish she was allowed.” Lily sighs. 

“You know Carmilla, she’ll sneak her way back here.” I smile, causing Lily to laugh a bit. “Does your ankle hurt?”

“Yeah, I don’t want to be out for the indoor season.”

“I know sweetheart, we’ll see what the doctor says when they get in, do you want anything?”

“No, I’m okay.”

“When this is over we’ll stop and get you anything you want for dinner.”

“Do you think Carmilla would mind making that macaroni I like so much?”

“I don’t think she would mind one bit.” I smile, shaking my head slightly.

“I’m gonna go, I have to take care of something.” Danny says, getting up from the chair and pulling on her coat.

“Can you send Carmilla back then if you’re leaving?”

“Sure.” Danny says, walking over to the foot of Lily’s bed. “I’m sorry you got hurt kiddo, I hope everything turns out okay.”

“Thanks anyway for taking me mama, I still had fun.”

“I’ll see you later.” Danny says with a small smile before walking out of the room. 

“Why does mama treat us like strangers some times?”

“Because she’s guilty that she hurt us and broke apart our family with the wrong choices.”

“She says it’s your fault that she made those choices though.”

“A person’s choices can be blamed on no one but themselves, I want you to remember that.”

“I will mom.” Lily smiles.

“I come baring gifts from the ER vending machine.” Carmilla announces. “I have two grape sodas, one package of cookies, and one bag of potato chips.” She says, placing everything on the table the moved to go over Lily’s lap in bed.

“Thanks Carm.” Lily chimes, opening the soda.

“You’re welcome.”

“Lily was wondering if you wouldn’t mind making that macaroni concoction that she likes.”

“My macaroni de la Carm? I’ll make that for you.”

“Is that really the name?” I ask with a laugh.

“No, but I don’t like when something is called ‘surprise,’ like to say I’m making macaroni surprise seems gross.”

“Both names are bad.” Lily says with a mouthful of cookies.

“She has a point.” I say.

“Either way, whenever we get out of here I have to go get the stuff for it.” Carmilla says, rolling her eyes.

“Thank you.” Lily chimes.

“Hello ladies.” The doctor chimes as he walks into the room. “I knew the name Hollis sounded familiar.”

“Kirsch, you’re a doctor?”

“Hey, it’s Dr. Kirsch now little hottie. How are you?” He smiles, wrapping me in a hug.

“I’m well, thank you. How’s my daughter?”

“She has a broken ankle. I’m sorry to tell you that kiddo.”

“How long is she going to stay off of it?”

“Six to eight weeks, I want to check it in six. I don’t think she’ll need a full eight weeks, but then PT falls into it after the fact. So sports are off the table for a little while there, kid.”

“Great.” Lily grumbles, rolling her eyes.

“I’m sorry kid, next time you go ice-skating remember this moment, and don’t do it. I don’t think I’m going to put you in a traditional cast; I’m going to put you in a clunky boot instead. I’ll be right back with that.” He smiles, writing something on the chart before walking out of the room.

“I’m never ice-skating again.”

“And I wouldn’t blame you for making that choice.”

“This is gonna suck for weeks, I’m so mad.” Lily says, throwing her balled up socks towards the door.

“Hey, just because you’re mad doesn’t mean you throw things.” Carmilla reprimands Lily, her cheeks turning red with embarrassment. She looks up at me shyly, almost as if she was seeking approval for what she just did to Lily. I nod my head slightly, not wanting it to be obvious that I let Carmilla, essentially, yell at Lily.

“I’m sorry.” Lily sighs, resting her head against the pillows, looking up at the ceiling tile in the room, I can see she was beginning to count them when Kirsch walked back into the room.

“Okay, so I know it isn’t the prettiest thing in the world, and a teenage girl wouldn’t want to be near this thing with a ten foot pole, but it was help you out in the sense that you won’t need crutches and will have more mobility. The only thing I highly advise, seeing as you have to take this off when you shower, is getting one of those shower chairs or get used to taking bathes. I don’t want you on your ankle if this isn’t on, it will only prolong the healing process, even though it is a very small break, it is still a break and needs to heal.”

“I understand, doctor.” Lily nods, she sits on the bed and swings her legs around carefully so that Kirsch could show her how to put the boot on and walk with it. After she got the hand of hobbling around the hallway outside of her room, I was signing the discharge papers while Carmilla walked Lily out to the car. “I hate this thing.” Lily complains, lifting her leg into the car as I walk up and see her getting flustered.

“It’ll take some getting used to kid, don’t worry, I’ll make sure you get your five minute pass for between classes after the break.”

“Thanks.” She smiles at Carmilla. Carmilla looks up at me, and smiles widely; she closes the door for Lily and walks up to me, wrapping me in a hug.

“I want to talk to you later.” Carmilla whispers in my ear before kissing my cheek. She walks over to the passenger side door, opening it for me.

“Thank you.” I smile, kissing her quickly. 

* * *

“Okay Lily, dinner is ready!” Carmilla calls out from the kitchen. I lean against the counter and smile at her as she wipes her hands on the dishtowel she has over her shoulder, she looks up at me and smiles widely, leaning over to kiss me quickly before Lily comes hobbling into the kitchen and sitting at the table, little Miles following behind her.

“Thank you Carm.” Lily says with a mouthful of macaroni and vegetables.

“You’re welcome kiddo.” Carmilla plates up a serving for me before serving herself, we join Lily at the table, light conversation falling between the three of us.

“Are you going to stay over?” Lily asks as she begins to clean up the table.

“No, sorry kid.” Carmilla says with a smile.

“You never sleep over.”

“That isn’t anything of your concern, Lily, stop being forward.” I warn.

“I’m sorry.”

“Go take it easy, you had a really long day.”

“Okay, thank you again Carm.”

“No problem Lily.” She smiles, trying not to laugh as Lily hobbles back off into her room. “Why do you get mad at her like that?”

“I don’t like her asking about us. Whether you stay over or not isn’t something she should be concerned with.”

“Why don’t you let me stay over when she’s here?”

“I don’t know.” I sigh, running my fingers through my hair. “I feel like you staying over sends a message that she doesn’t need right now.”

“What would that be?” Carmilla asks, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Look, I love you and this has nothing to do about you, it’s me, I just don’t think you staying over while Lily is here is appropriate.”

“Oh, so we’re back to the inappropriateness of this relationship again, that’s the topic we’re back to?”

“Carmilla, don’t get upset with me, I just don’t think that it’s right, right now I just want to focus on us growing more, not whether or not you spend the night. When Lily isn’t you’re student any longer then I will see for you to practically move in if it seems fit.” I say, walking up to her and wrapping my arms around her waist. “I love you, there isn’t anything that will change that, but outside these walls, you’re back to being Ms. Karnstein to her, and why should she have to go back and forth? You should always be Carm, not Ms. Karnstein.”

“I guess you have a point.” Carmilla sighs, resting her forehead against mine. “I love you too cupcake.”

“I would hope so.” I laugh, leaning in to kiss her. “Help me clean up your mess.”

“Yes ma’am.” After cleaning up from dinner, I went over to Lily’s room to find that she was asleep. I turned off her light and closed her door over. “Everything okay?” Carmilla asks as she walks out of the bathroom.

“She’s sleeping, I don’t want to bother her.”

“Oh, okay. I’ll get going.”

“I don’t want you to go now.” I whine, taking her by the hand.

“It’s getting late cupcake.”

“I know, but I don’t want you to leave yet.”

“Okay, what do you want to do then?” She asks as I pull her into the living room and on to the couch.

“Talk? I don’t know, I just know I don’t want you to leave yet.”

“So let me spend the night. Get over whatever is going on in your head and let me stay. Besides, it’s still winter break, time off from school should mean I’m allowed to stay over.”

“You don’t have anything here.”

“I’ll run back to my place and get some things, I’ll be right back.” Carmilla smiles before kissing me quickly.

“Be careful.”

“I will.”

* * *

“I thought Carmilla wasn’t sleeping over?” Lily announces as she walks into my room and sees Carmilla asleep beside me, nearly jolting me awake. 

“Lily, don’t shout this early. Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, I just had to go to the bathroom and I saw Carmilla was sleeping. I thought she wasn’t allowed to.”

“We spoke about it, we’ll talk to you about it later.”

“Okay.”

“Why is everyone talking?” Carmilla mumbles in her sleep. She opens her eyes to see Lily standing in the doorway. “How do you feel kid?”

“Better.”

“Good, go in the kitchen, I’ll make you breakfast.”

“Really? Can Carmilla sleep over all the time?”

“Go.” I say, watching her sigh as she limped away. Carmilla turns over and faces me, pulling me into her and kissing my forehead. “Good morning.” I smile, running my fingers through her hair.

“Good morning cupcake.” She says, opening her eyes and smiling.

“You don’t have to make Lily breakfast.”

“I want to make us breakfast, I make a pretty awesome breakfast, cupcake.”

“I don’t have anything to cook though.”

“I picked up a few things in the store yesterday when I was getting stuff for dinner.”

“Assuming I’d give in to you?”

“Knowing you’d give in to me. You can’t resist me.” She smiles, leaning in to kiss me quickly before jumping out of bed and walking out of the room.

“No, I can’t.” I mumble to myself getting out of bed with a smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some fluffy domestic Hollstein to hold you over until I update next. I hope you enjoyed it :)


	8. Chapter 8

-Carmilla POV-

It felt strange not spending the day with Laura and Lily, something about it didn’t feel whole. The day seemed to drag on, papers began to feel longer as I read them and graded them. The last day of winter break seemed to go on forever, not only due to the fact that I wasn’t with the only two people that made me feel whole, but also because of the fact that I had to wake up at the crack of dawn again for the first time in over a week. Of course the times I was up early with Lily were nothing to complain about, but having to wake up in order to teach snotty kids was something I wasn’t really looking forward too after such a great week. I was schlepping around my apartment, trying to get interested in some of these papers when my phone started to ring, I walk over and pick it up from where it was charging on the counter. “Hey cupcake.”

 _“Carm.”_ She whispers, her voice cracking a bit. _“I need you.”_

“I’ll be over right away. Where are you?”

_“I’m home, I’ll wait for you to come home before I go to my Dad’s.”_

“I’ll be right there.” I say, not letting the fact that she referred to her apartment as ‘home’ get to me. Thankfully she didn’t live very far away and it only took ten minutes to get to Laura’s house. I knock on the door and Laura is there right away with tears in her eyes as she throws herself at me, I wrap my arms around her and hold her tight as I push her back into the house to get out of the cold, I kick the door closed, not breaking my hold on her. I look over Laura’s shoulder to see Lily limping towards me with tears in her eyes too, I don’t ask either of them what happened, I already know. I open my arm out for Lily and wrap her in a tight hug too. “Everything is going to be okay.” I whisper to both of them.

“We have to go to my dad’s.” Laura says, pulling away to look at me, she wipes away her tears with her sleeve.

“We’ll get there, I’ll drive don’t worry.” I whisper, leaning in to kiss her softly. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“I’m here, everything will be okay.” I reassure her and Lily. I wait for them to get themselves together through tears. Once they were ready we went to Sherman’s house.

“You’re going to meet a lot of people, family members that I hope don’t start anything. They don’t approve of my lifestyle choices and always have to make some kind of deal about it, my mom would always yell at them so it, they’re her sisters, I don’t see them doing anything but if they do…”

“I’ll be on my best behavior.” I smile, taking her hand in mine and lacing our fingers together. “For the sake of your mother, knowing how she’d want me to act.”

“Thank you.” She smiles sadly, leaning over to kiss me quickly before the three of us get out of the car. We walk into the house, even though there is something missing when you walk through the door, the atmosphere isn’t exactly the same, but it is still warm and inviting. Laura doesn’t let go of my hand as we walk in and find her dad in the living room surrounded by his in-laws and siblings. Some faces I recognized, but most of them I didn’t. Sherman looks up and smiles sadly, getting up from his chair and walking over to us.

“I’m sorry for your loss Sherman.” I say, hugging him as tightly as he was hugging me.

“Thank you for bringing Laura and Lily here. Thank you for being in their life.”

“I wouldn’t want it any other way Mr. Hollis.”

“Jane loved you, I just want you to know that. She loved you so much, almost as if you were her own daughter.”

“And I loved her like a mother, sir.” I say, fighting back tears. “She’s an amazing lady that’s going to be missed by a lot.”

“But she isn’t suffering anymore.”

“That’s true sir.” I say with a small smile. The time spent with Laura’s family was sad, of course. Lily was downstairs with the rest of the kids while all the adults were moving around between the living room and kitchen. Laura and I found a quiet corner in the den where no one was. We sat on the couch; Laura was on my lap with her head on my shoulder as I held her.

“I love you.” Laura mumbles against my neck.

“I love you too, Laura.”

“Move in with us.” She says, looking at me with tear stained cheeks and puffy eyes. “I want you to be with me and Lily. I don’t want to be away from you.”

“Okay. We’ll have to wait to arrange everything.”

“I know, I know it isn’t even the right time to talk to you about it, seeing as my mom just died, but I can’t get over the feeling of wanting to be with you. I love you too much to have to say goodbye to you at the end of the night. I – I feel like we need you now.”

“You don’t need to explain anything to me Laura, I love you. I know you’re going through a very hard time right now, you and Lily need something stable and I’m willing to provide that for you.”

“Thank you.” Laura whispers, fighting tears again.

“Don’t cry, cupcake. I know it’s hard, I know what it’s like to lose someone, I hate seeing you cry.”

“It’s hard not to cry.”

“I know you’ll have more time to cry though, cupcake. Your mother wouldn’t want to see you cry. She’d want to see you celebrate her.”

“I know. You’re right. I have to stop grieving so much. I miss her and that feeling will never go away, but I know she would want me to stay as happy as possible.”

“That’s right.” I say with a nod. Laura smiles slightly, a genuine smile, nothing sad or upsetting about it. She leans in and kisses me softly. “I don’t know what I would do without you.”

“You would be quite lost without me.”

“I would be.” We spend a few more hours at her dad’s before Laura had to go home for her own benefit. She explained to Sherman why she had to leave and he understood and lets us go. We get back to her apartment; Lily begins to hobble off to her room. “Lily, wait a minute. I want to ask you something.” Laura says as I help her out of her coat.

“Did I do something?” Lily asks, feeling guilty right away.

“No, I just want to know how you feel about something.”

“Oh okay.” Lily says, sitting down on the couch.

“I want to know how you would feel if Carmilla lived with us.”

“Like for real?”

“Yeah, how do you feel about that?”

“So I’d see you all the time?”

“Every day.” I smile. “In school and at home. Now your routine will stay the same when it comes to getting to and from school. I really can’t be your taxi because I’m on a different time frame as you, but once in a while I will be able to bring you home.”

“That doesn’t matter. What matters is that you’ll be here all the time to make mom happy, especially now that we have to go through losing nana.”

“So you don’t care about her living here?”

“Of course not mom! I love Carm; she’s more of a mom to me than mama is. Carm cares about me than mama does.” Lily explains.

“I know she does, but if you ever said that to mama she’d have a real fit.”

“I know. Mama doesn’t like to admit that she’s a shitty parent.”

“Language. But I will let it slide just once, seeing as it was used in context.” Laura says with a smile.

“She doesn’t even care than nana died! I called her and told her what happened and she didn’t care. You called Carm and she was here right away.”

“Aside from comparing me to your mother, you don’t care if I move in. That’s the bottom line.”

“No, I don’t care.”

“Good, that’s it. I’ll start moving in in a few weeks. My lease is up at the end of the month anyway.”

“You’re going to miss the studio apartment?”

“Of course, but this place is more like home anyway.” I smile, leaning over to kiss Laura quickly.

“So it’s settled then, my English teacher is going to be living with me!” 

“Try to keep that between us kid. I don’t want it being made into some kind of deal okay?”

“I know Carm.” Lily smiles, walking over to hug me tightly.

 

-Laura POV-

The next few days seemed to go by in a blur. There was something about my mother’s funeral that felt as if it didn’t happen at all, and yet standing at her gravesite, looking down at the hole that was covered in fresh dirt made it all seem real. The thoughts of never seeing her smile, or never hearing her voice in real time cam flooding into my head, causing me to drop to my knees, not caring about the fact there the ground has a fresh layer of snow, or the fact that my knees may turn blue and freeze, everything about this made me feel numb. I feel someone crouch down beside me, wrapping their arm around my shoulder. “Come on cupcake, we have to go.”

“She’s really gone, Carm.” I whisper.

“I know. Come on, let’s go get warm.” She says, pulling me to my feet but keeping me wrapped in her arms. She kisses the side of my head as we walk towards the car.

“I love you Carm.”

“I love you too.” She smiles, kissing me softly as we climb into the limo with my dad and Lily. Everyone was gathered back at the Hollis household, an undeniable sadness weighed on everyone, and was something I couldn’t escape no matter how hard I tried. I ended up sitting on the back porch swing, looking over the snow-covered backyard. I tried to fight off the memories of my mom and I playing games and building snowmen on days like this. “Laura, you’re going to freeze.” Carmilla says, wrapping a blanket around my shoulders. “Cupcake, come inside.”

“I don’t want to.”

“You have to, it’s too cold out here not to.”

“I don’t care.” I whisper, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Come on, you just have to come in for a little while longer, then we’ll go home.”

“I want to go home now then.” I say, resting my head on her shoulder.

“We’ll go home then. We’ll get Lily and we’ll go.”

“Lily goes to Danny’s tonight, it’s Friday.”

“So we’ll have time alone. I’ll have all the time to make you feel better.”

“Okay.” I smile, kissing her quickly before getting up and walking back into the house. We say goodbye to everyone and find Lily. We get home and Lily gets changed and ready to go with Danny.

“I’m going to jump in the shower quick.” Carmilla says, kissing my cheek. After she disappears into the bathroom, I hear a knock on the door; I open it to see Danny standing there.

“Hey, are you okay?”

“Lily’s almost ready.” I say, walking away from her.

“That’s not what I asked.”

“I don’t care what you asked, that’s the answer you’re getting.”

“Look, I know I haven’t been around but – ”

“There is no but, Danny! My mother died and you weren’t there! Not that I give a shit, but you couldn’t even respect her enough to be there for Lily. You’re daughter’s grandmother died and you weren’t even there!”

“Cause you would do the same for my mother?”

“Of course I would! It’s the right thing to do! Heaven forbid something happens to your parents, but at the same time I would be there out of respect for my daughter and her relatives!”

“Just rub in the fact that I’m shitty person, like I don’t know that enough already!”

“You are a shitty person! There is nothing around that fact, to me, you’re always going to be a shitty person, it’s just inconvenient that I have to share Lily with you!”

“Well I’m sorry you decided to have a child with me, I’m sorry it’s such an inconvenience for you.”

“What’s the problem?” Carmilla asks walking into the room wrapped up in a robe.

“Do you not live at your own place?” Danny snaps.

“No she doesn’t, she lives here now.”

“Since when?”

“Since that’s none of your business.” I snap, crossing my arms over my chest.

“You’re kidding my right? Lily’s still my kid, I have the right to know who she’s with when I’m not around.”

“I’m always with mom or Carm. And if I’m allowed to be honest, I like being with them more than I like being with you.” Lily admits. I look at Danny to see hurt in her eyes. “I love you mama, I really do. But some times you make it seem like you don’t care about mom or me as much as you should. Like mom said, you weren’t even nice enough to see nana. You’re still my mama, but it feels like you replaced us with Betty and it doesn’t bother you that you did.” Danny looks at Lily and frowns slightly; almost as if she’s savoring the words Lily had said and letting them really sink in.

“I’m sorry if that’s how I make you feel, Lily. I never want you to think I’m trying to replace you or anything like that. I could never replace you. You’re my daughter; you have no idea how proud I am to say that. No matter what is going on between you’re mother and I, you are still my pride and joy. I wouldn’t change having you for anything. I could never apologize enough for making you feel anything less than love from me. It’s just hard to know that I have to share you, but every time I see you, I know that you’re being raised to be the best young lady in the entire world and that is something I can thank your mother for doing. Adults do thing that they can’t really explain to the full degree, I can’t always find the reason why I did the things that I did, nor can your mother, but the last thing I want, is for you to be caught up in the middle of it. No matter what, you are always loved and you have more people to love you. You have Betty and now Carmilla and that’s not going to change. But you are never going to be replaced in my life; you’re always going to be my little girl, my first kid. No matter what that alone can’t change.” Danny says, wrapping her arms around Lily. “Whatever I do, I’m not taking it out on any one. Some things are just hard to explain and face when you’re in the situation I’m in. I know I should have come and seen nana, and paid my respects, but at the same time I know your grandpa would have killed me for hurting you and mom, that’s why I didn’t show up. If anything, I’m willing to admit that I have my moment of being a coward, and that’s on me, not you.”

“I love you mama.” 

“I love you too kiddo. Now, why don’t we get your things together and go back to the house. Betty was going to make cookies with you, and she wants your opinion on flowers for the wedding.”

“Okay.” Lily smiles, walking back into her room.

“I know you’re upset and have a lot going on right now, but I would like to sit down with you and talk one day, just us over coffee.”

“I think that could be arranged.” I say, feel Carmilla wrap her arm around my waist.

“Thank you.”

“I love you, mom.” Lily says, giving me a tight hug.

“I love you too, sweetie remember to brush your teeth and be nice.” I say, kissing her forehead.

“I will mom. See you later Carm.” She says, giving Carmilla a hug.

“See you later kiddo, try to finish up that paper if you have time.” Carmilla smiles.

“I know.”

“Be careful getting home, Danny.” Carmilla says, walking them towards the door.

“I will, I’ll have Lily call you later.”

“Okay.” I nod, giving them as small way as they left the apartment; Carmilla closed the door, locking it behind them. She walks up to me and wraps me up in a hug.

“I love you.” She says, kissing the top of my head.

“I love you.” I mumble against her chest.

“Why don’t we go take a bath?”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah, you and me, with the potential visit from Miles.”

“I would like that.” I smile, stepping away from her. “I’ll meet you in there?"

“Okay.” She says, kissing me quickly before going off to start the bath. I walk into the bathroom to see Carmilla was already in the tub with bubbles nearly overflowing the bathtub. Even though we’ve been together for about four months now, we have yet to see each other naked. I felt like a nervous teenager or something, I stood there with my robe on and Carmilla staring at me.

“What?”

“You’re taking a long time to get in here.” She smirks, playing with the bubbles around her.

“Turn around.”

“Why?”

“I – I don’t want you to see me just yet.”

“You don’t want me to see you naked?”

“N – no, not really.” I say, looking down at the floor.

“Why not?”

“I don’t know…”

“Fine, I’ll close my eyes, just get in here.” She smiles, covering her eyes with her hands. I sigh and climb into the bath, sitting between her legs and leaning against Carmilla’s front. Carmilla wraps her arms around me immediately. I let out a sigh and lean my head on her shoulder, allowing myself to relax. “Why won’t you let me see you?” She whispers in my ear.

“I don’t know just yet. I don’t know if I’m ready for that just yet.”

“Okay.” She smiles, turning to kiss me softly. “I won’t push you to do anything you don’t want to do.”

“I really love you, Carmilla.”

“And I really love you, Laura.” I smile, leaning in to kiss her again. It was peaceful being with Carmilla; something about her made me feel safe and content. A small meow breaks the silence; I look over to see Miles stretched up and leaning on the edge of the tub, trying to play with the bubbles.

“This guy is going to get himself killed.” Carmilla says, swatting him away.

“Curiosity will kill him.” I say with a laugh, trying to make a bad joke. Carmilla laughs, her chest vibrating against my back as she rests her forehead against my shoulder.

“You’re such a dork.”

“Do you really want to move in with us?” I ask, placing with her hands.

“Of course. Why wouldn’t I want to move in with you?”

“I mean, we’ve only been together for four months, I don’t want to make you feel like you’re rushing into this.”

“You never make me feel rushed. There is an absence of feeling rushed. I don’t want to be away from you. I hate going to be alone, I hate not seeing you every minute, I would be lost without you, cupcake.”

“I just want to make sure.”

“Everything will be okay.”


	9. Chapter 9

-Carmilla POV-

“Is this the last box?” Laura sighs, dropping it on the floor as soon as she walks through the door.

“Yeah, that’s everything.” I say, following Laura into the apartment. “I have to go drop off the truck, do you want me to pick up dinner?”

“Yeah, if it isn’t trouble. I have to take Lily to the doctor to see about her cast.”

“Is she getting it off early?”

“Kirsch thinks so. They have to x-ray it again and see if it’s healed properly.”

“Okay, I’ll meet you back here in a couple of hours.” I smile, leaning in to kiss her.

“You’ll need this.” She smiles, daggling the key on front of my face.

“I mean, I would like to get back in the house when I get home.” I chime, taking the key from her, kissing her quickly again. “Pizza okay for dinner?”

“Perfect.”

“I’ll see you later.”

“Yes you will.” Laura smiles, kissing me quickly. “Lily! We have to go to the doctor.”

“Okay!” Lily calls out, hobbling into the living room. “Hopefully I can get this horrid thing off.”

“Hopefully. Oh! Carm, we have to talk later.”

“Is that your way of reminding me you have to talk about something?”

“Yes it is.”

“Okay then.” 

* * *

Laura comes walking into the bedroom in her pajamas, climbing into bed and straddling my waist. Once I dropped off the moving truck and picked up dinner, I came back to the apartment and started unpacking while I waited for Laura to come home. It was easy settling in, thankfully there was a spare room in the apartment that Laura used as an office, which made things easy for me when it came to find somewhere for my semi-massive book collection. So, Laura’s office was now turned into a mini library and workplace for me when I needed some quiet. Laura smiles at me she pushes my glasses to the top of my head and taking the paper out of my hand that I was reading through to grade. “Hello to you too.” I smile, wrapping my arms around her. “How’s Lily, we didn’t talk about it earlier.”

“She’s gotta have the cast on for a little while longer, maybe a week or two more.” She smiles, pulling something out of the pocket of her sweatpants.

“What’s this?”

“Am I not allowed to surprise you with random gifts?”

“No, you are.”

“Open it.” She smiles. I sit up straight a bit and look at her, something about Laura always reminded me of a child, that’s odd to say, but she had a lot of childlike aspects about her when she would get excited about something or the smile she would get when she would smell cookies in the oven, or the look of awe when something interesting caught her attention, or her favorite TV show was on. “What?” She asks, when she sees me staring at her and not opening the gift.

“I really love you.”

“I really love you too, especially if you opened the gift.”

“Okay, okay.” I laugh, tugging at the ribbon to untie it before tearing away at the paper. I open the box to reveal a small, silver locket.

“I took your idea of what you gave me for Christmas and just tweaked it.” Laura smiles, taking the locket from my hands and opening it. “I could have put two pictures of me, but I didn’t. I figured you liked my kid enough to want a picture of her too, I could have put Miles, but he’s a pain to take a picture of.”

“I love it, thank you.” I say quietly, leaning in to kiss her softly.

“You’re welcome. I’ll put it on the dresser so nothing happens to it, the chain is too thin to sleep with it on.”

“Whatever you say cupcake, just get back over here so I can cuddle with you. Oh, what did you want to talk about early, you wanted me to remind you.”

“Lily’s birthday. It’s coming up in the next couple of weeks, she wants a party with her friends from school. I don’t know if you want to go to the party or we’ll have something little here or…”

“Don’t not have a party because of me, she’s going to be fourteen, she wants a party let her have it. If I want to, I’ll show up, if not I can hide in the shadows so nothing gets said. We’ll figure that part out more when it gets closer to the day.”

“I want you to be involved in her life Carm.”

“And I want to be involved in her life too, I don’t want you to think I don’t. I just don’t want the kids saying something to her because they saw me at her birthday party.”

“I know.” Laura sighs.

“We’ll talk to Lily about it, okay? It’s her day, she should have the final say.”

“Okay.” She smiles, kissing me softly before turning on her side. I wrap my arm around her and pull her into my front. I kiss the back of her head as I feel her lace her fingers with mine. “You’re always so warm.”

“And yet my heart is cold.” I tease, receiving a playful slap on my hand.

“Your heart is just as warm.” Laura says, kissing the back of my hand.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.” 

* * *

“Hey Carm?” Lily asks, walking up to my desk as everyone else left the class. “I know you aren’t supposed to play favorites or anything like that and I don’t want you to think that that’s what I’m trying to make you do or anything like that, but why did I only get a ‘B’ on this paper?”

“It was a great paper kiddo, it really was. I just don’t think you understood the assignment fully. Analyzing Shakespeare’s sonnets can be hard because you can take them several different ways, I’m not penalizing you because your interpretation was wrong, or not right, it’s meant to be what you think the sonnet is saying, but I just don’t think you understood the sonnet enough.” I explain, sitting back in my chair, watching her carefully as she looks over her paper.

“Can I do it over?”

“Lily, you have a ‘B’. There is nothing to do over when you still have an ‘A’ plus, plus in the class. This isn’t anything bad. I know you like things to be perfect, you’re just like your mother in that way, but this is something I want you to take and grow from, I don’t want to see you beat yourself up for it.” I say, writing out a pass for her as the second bell rings.

“Okay, Ms. Karnstein.” She sighs, putting the paper back into her bag as Laf walks into the room.

“I know we’re from two different worlds, but I would like to talk to you about something.”

“Sure thing Laf. I’ll see you later Lily.”

“Yeah.” She shrugs, taking the pass and leaving the room.

“What’s up bio-nerd?” I say, turning from side to side.

“Laura’s birthday is coming up, it’s right after Lily’s. Perry and I wanted to know if you had anything in mind as to what you wanted to do?”

“Oh, I don’t know really. I don’t want to do a surprise party or anything like that. It’s the first birthday of theirs that I’m with them. Like yeah we had the holidays, but that isn’t as intimate as a birthday in my opinion. I didn’t even know it was her birthday, she never mentioned it.”

“Oh, okay. Well it is, so if she says something or not, at least you know now. If you’re going to have a party let us know, or Laura will let us know.” They say awkwardly.

“Hey, I know we aren’t from the same department, but don’t get embarrassed over the fact that we have a mutual person in our lives. There’s nothing to worry about. Who knows, she may want to have you guys over just so Perry can cook. Laura goes on some times about how amazing Perry is at cooking.”

“True, okay I guess just let me know what’s going on.”

“I will, don’t worry.” I smile, logging onto the computer. My phone begins to ring, I look to see it was my mother, I sigh before answering. “Hello mother.”

_“Hello Carmilla, I was calling to ask what you and Laura were doing tonight.”_

“Laura has to work mom, you know that.”

_“Yes, but I wanted to invite her to dinner to let her know that I’m making her the weekend morning anchor now. She won’t have to work late nights anymore.”_

“Really?”

_“Yes, and it’s effective immediately. The one current anchor isn’t doing very well with viewers, and the senior anchor isn’t getting along with her well, Theo has worked with Laura on several occasions and made the suggestion to put her on the weekends. I wanted to share the news with her.”_

“Okay, I’ll give her a call that you want to have dinner with us and then go from there, I won’t mention the promotion.”

_“It’s more of a movement rather than a promotion, but there is a small pay raise involved. Call her and get back to me soon.”_

“Okay.” I say, hanging up the phone and calling Laura.

 _“Hey you.”_ She chimes after the first ring. _“How are you? Lily texted me that you gave her a ‘B’.”_

“Yeah, I’ll talk to you about that later. I called to tell you that my mother wants us to have dinner with her tonight.”

_“Oh?”_

“Yeah, she insisted that we have dinner with her.”

_“Okay. I’m assuming she didn’t let you know a time, so when you get the chance, call her back and see the time she wants us around.”_

“Okay.”

_“Is everything else okay besides that?”_

“Of course cupcake. Nothing else to report, I miss you and I’ll see you soon.”

_“I love you.”_

“I love you too, cupcake.” I smile before hanging up. 

* * *

“Why did your mom want to have dinner?” Laura asks, as we turn into the rather long driveway that led to my mother’s house.

“She would tell me cupcake, she just wanted to have us for dinner.”

“I know she likes me, but she still manages to scare me some times.”

“It’s okay cupcake, I mean yeah she’s your boss, but don’t let that get to you.” I smile, turning off the car and leaning over to kiss her. “Let’s go in. Mother wouldn’t want to know we’re here and walk in later than expected.”

“Okay.” Laura says quietly, she kisses me again before getting out of the car. She walks over and takes my hand in hers, lacing our fingers together and squeezing my hand slightly.

“Don’t be nervous cupcake.” I whisper in her ear, kissing the side of her head as we reach the front door. I open the door allowing Laura to go into the house first.

“Carmilla?” I hear my mom call out, walking down the hallway from the kitchen. “Hello girls how are you?” She chimes, hugging Laura and I. “Where’s Lily?”

“Oh, she had a project she needed to work on with a friend, she really wanted to come, but the project is due tomorrow and of course they waited until the last minute. She sends her love though.” 

“Well that’s all that matters really, this dinner is more to talk about you anyway. It’s somewhat a business dinner.” Mother says, leading us into the kitchen.

“Is anyone else coming?” I ask, helping Laura out of her coat before she catches up with mother.

“Just the three of us. I figured we could order in, that was the plan even if Lily was joining us, it’s just easier. What would you two like?”

“It doesn’t matter to me as much as this business talk concerns me. Did I do anything wrong? A-are you firing me?” Laura asks nervously.

“Oh god no, I could never fire you at all. You are one of the best people on the team the network loves you; in fact we want to move you. There have been problems with the two weekend anchors, Theo isn’t getting a long properly and he suggested that we get you out of the weeknight spot and out you with him on Saturday and Sunday. How do you feel about that?”

“Really?” Laura asks, her eyes about to pop out of her head.

“Really, I wouldn’t want to have you anywhere else, and I feel as if this is the perfect opportunity for you. I was able to negotiate a pay raise for you, if you’re up for the position.” Mother smiles. Laura looks at me, and smiles.

“What should I do?”

“Are you really asking that?”

“Well I won’t see you on the weekends now.”

“So what, at least I’ll be able to go to sleep next to you during the week.”

“I’ll take the position Lilita.” Laura smiles, walking over to hug my mother tightly. “Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome Laura.”

“I’m starving, if either of you really care.” I complain.

“You’re such a baby.” Laura chimes, walking over and kissing me on the cheek.

“What would you girls like, I’m okay with anything.”

“I want Italian food.” I announce, looking through the drawer for the menu to our favorite place. “Wanna split something cupcake?”

“Sure, I know you can never finish a dish from that place anyway and they give you so much.”

“That is true, what do you want mom? We could always get two things and split it.”

“If you’re getting food from there I want the eggplant parm.” She says, getting a bottle of wine from the fridge.

“Oh, I like that too. So we’ll get that and get some kind of pasta, I have to give Lily a call.” Laura says, walking out of the room.

“Carmilla?”

“Yes mother?”

“I want you to look at me while I talk to you.” She warns, I look up and see a serious look on her face. “What do you plan on doing with Laura?”

“As in?”

“Do you love her?”

“More than anything mom, we’re living together, I love her daughter, and I love her. I – I can see myself being with her for a very long time.”

“So you plan on settling down with her?”

“Yes, I do. When the time is right, everything will be put in place. I don’t want to rush into things, but the time may be right sooner rather than later. I feel it in my gut.” I smile.

“That’s something I’m very happy to hear.” Mother smiles hugging me quickly before Laura walks back into the kitchen. “I’ll call and place the order now, feel free to help yourselves to whatever you want.”

“What did Lily say?”

“She was happy I got my schedule changed, she was just disappointed that now I’ll have to figure out how to make it to her games in the spring and summer when she’s able to play again. Some of them are early, other’s are later in the afternoon, the early one’s are going to be hard.”

“Hey, I’m here, I’ll go to all of her games with or without you. There’s nothing to worry about.” I smile, wrapping my arms around her.

“I love you.”

“I love you too. Don’t worry about something like that, worry about the girl getting her cast off as soon as possible.”

“That’s true. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

“Probably lose your mind.” I tease, leaning in to kiss her quickly.

“Probably.”

“And to think you never wanted anything to do with me for starters.” I tease, leaning in to kiss her softly.

“Some times I still wake up and wonder why the hell you’re in my bed.”

“Ha, ha. You love me and there is no denying it.”

“No, there isn’t.”

“Girls, I can feel my teeth rotting, can you both knock it off. Dinner should be here in about half an hour. We’re going to eat in the living room, I want to watch TV.” Mother announces.

“Whatever you say mom.” The rest of the evening was pleasant and dinner was delicious, after the third yawn in a row from Laura, it was decided that it was time to get home. “Thank you for coming by on such short notice, girls.”

“Not a problem at all, it’s nice to know that such great news came out of it.” Laura says, giving my mother a hug.

“You both know you’re welcome over any time. I would like to see Lily soon, if that’s okay with you. In fact if you girls ever want time alone, Lily is more than welcome to spend the night here.”

“We’ll talk to her about it mom, we have to get going. Thank you again.” I smile, giving my mom a hug.

“Be good girls, I will see you Saturday, Laura.”

“Oh? I don’t have to go in the rest of the week?”

“No, I already rearranged everything. Have a nice time off; I will see you Saturday morning, bright and early.”

“Bright and early.” Laura nods.

 

-Laura POV-

My alarm jolts me awake at five-thirty Saturday morning, I try my hardest to get up as gently as possible, not wanting to disturb Carmilla seeing as she loved sleep more than anything. “Hey.” Carmilla grumbles, sitting up in bed stretching as she wipes the sleep from her eyes. She gets out of bed and I watch her in confusion. “Morning cupcake.” She whispers, kissing me quickly before walking out of the room. I look down the hallway to see her in the kitchen making coffee.

“Why are you up?” I say quietly, not wanting to wake up Lily.

“I want to see you off on your first day of your new position.” She smiles, wrapping her arms around me.

“You don’t have to. Go back to bed.”

“I can take a nap later.” Carmilla says, kissing me quickly. “Go get done, I’ll fix your coffee.” I walk out of the kitchen, still slightly confused as I get done and ready for walk, being mindful of not wanting to wake up Lily. “Here you go.” Carmilla smiles, handing me a travel cup full of coffee.

“Thank you.” I smile. I look at Carmilla to see a smile on her face as she holds her mug to her lips.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.” I chime, leaning in to kiss her slowly.

“Have a good day at work. I’ll see you later.”

“Danny gets Lily today, be nice.” I warn.

“I promise I’ll be nice, when do you think you’ll be home?”

“I don’t know exactly, but I’m assuming some time in the afternoon. I’ll call you when I’m done.” I say, kissing her again before making sure I had all of my things together, I pull on my coat and Carmilla puts my scarf on me with a smile. “You know, I’ve never seen you this happy before noon.”

“You seem to bring it out in my cupcake.” She chimes, opening the door for me. “I love you, I’ll see you later.”

“I’ll see you later.” I kiss her quickly. “And please, please, please be nice to Danny, I don’t feel like getting a call.”

“Scout’s honor.”

“I know you weren’t a scout.”

“I promise either way.” She smiles, leaning against the doorframe.

“I’ll see you later.”

“Be careful getting there!” She calls out, I wave at her as I get into my car and make y way to the studio with a smile on my face.

“Danny would never have done something like that.” I say to myself.


	10. Chapter 10

-Laura POV-

Only having to work weekends was both a blessing and a curse. A blessing due to the fact that I only had to work two days, a curse because I had to get up early on a Saturday and Sunday, something I haven’t done since Lily was a baby waking up every hour on the hour. But when Monday rolled around, Carmilla was amazing enough to take care of getting Lily ready for school before she left to get to work while she left me to sleep. Although the morning mess that I was always left to clean up was something that I hated more than anything. I let out a sigh as I walk into the kitchen to see dirty bowls and cups in the sink. Despite Carmilla’s note she left of the fridge for me to read every morning, every one would tell me how much she loved me and how sorry she was for the mess. I read the note with a small smile, getting annoyed as soon as I looked over at the sink, only to be distracted by my phone ringing. “Hello?” I answer.

_“Hey sweetie. How are you?”_

“I’m good dad, how are you?”

_“Pretty good, how’s the new position?”_

“I love it, it’s nice to not have to rush around during the week.”

_“That’s good, look I wanted to ask you about something.”_

“Okay.”

_“How would you feel if I told you I met someone?”_

“I would tell you that you are a grown up and know enough to make the decisions you want to in life. And I know mom wouldn’t want you worrying and alone forever, she would want you to be happy.”

_“Thank you sweetie. A buddy of mine made me go on a date with this woman he knows and I enjoyed it. She’s really nice, we had more in common that I thought we would. She has a son about your age, she lost her husband a couple of years ago to cancer which was nice to have someone who understood the process of seeing someone you love go through that disease, anyway, I want you to meet her soon. I want to do this gradually, so first I want her to meet you, then Lily and Carmilla. I want to know if you like her first.”_

“I’m happy for you dad, whenever you want me to meet her I’ll be more than happy to.”

_“Great, would you mind doing coffee this week with us, maybe tomorrow?”_

“That’s fine, I’ll let you know what’s going on. I think Lily has a half-day for conferences or something. I’ll see if she can go by a friend seeing as Carmilla won’t be able to stay with her.”

_“Okay, let me know sweetheart. Other than that everything else is good. How are you and Carmilla?”_

“We’re amazing dad, trust me you would know right away if something was wrong with Carm and I.”

_“As long as she’s taking care of you girls…”_

“She is daddy, don’t you worry. I love you dad, I have to go I have to clean up around her.”

 _“Okay, I have to get to work anyway. I love you, I’ll talk to you later.”_ He says, hanging up the phone. I out my phone down only to have it start ringing again. “Yeah?”

_“Don’t sound so enthusiastic cupcake.”_

“Hey you. I’m just getting around to cleaning your mess.”

_“I’m sorry about that sweetie, I was running late and ended up just taking Lily with me to work, I couldn’t find the time. I really apologize.”_

“You’re lucky I love you, and you’re cute, and you’re good in bed.”

 _“The only three things that matter in life.”_ She teases.

“I hate you when you get cheeky though.”

_“No you don’t. So how are you?”_

“Good, my dad had some news for me that I will tell you later.”

_“Is it good news at least?”_

“I would say yes.”

_“That’s good. I want to do lunch today, if you want to.”_

“I can do quick coffee, I have to go shopping today there’s nothing here.”

_“Want to just wait until I get home, we can do dinner?”_

“Can’t, Lily gets her cast off today at four.”

_“Oh right, I forgot.”_

“Yeah, Danny might go to this appointment.”

_“Oh really now? She did get involved while the girl couldn’t walk, but now she wants to go see Lily get a clean bill of health.”_

“I know, I’m upset about it too but Lily is still her child just as much as she is mine.”

_“I don’t want to talk about this now.”_

“It isn’t anything for you to discuss period.”

_“What does that mean?”_

“It means that when it comes to Danny and Lily, I don’t want you putting in your two cents.” I spit, biting my tongue before I have a chance to realize the words leaving my mouth. “Look, I’m sorry Carm.”

 _“No, I don’t want to hear it. I’ll see you later.”_ She snaps hanging up the phone.

* * *

“Mom, what’s wrong with Carmilla?” Lily asks as she gets into the car when I pick her up from school.

“Why?”

“She was just in a bad mood, she wasn’t that way this morning, what happened? Do you know?”

“She and I had an argument over something, I said things I didn’t mean to say.”

“Is this your first fight?”

“Yeah, it is.”

Whose fault is it?”

“It’s a combined fault, look I don’t want to talk about it right now, we have time to stop at home quick to get your folder for the doctor, then we have to go. Your mother is going to be there apparently.”

“Oh, yeah. Mama texted me saying she wasn’t going to be able to make it, she had something come up with work. Oh, did I tell you that Betty called off the wedding?”

“What? When did that happen?”

“Over the weekend, I forgot to tell you that. Mama and Betty sat me down and said they weren’t getting married anymore, and then Betty started crying. I felt sorry for her.”

“Well that was probably your mama’s doing.” I say, rolling my eyes as we pull up to the apartment.

“Betty told me mama was seeing someone else. Is mama a slut?” Lily asks, cocking her head to the side, I couldn’t help but laugh at the question.

“I guess she is sweetie, don’t tell her I said that.”

“Good thing she isn’t a guy or else I’d have a bunch of brothers and sisters.”

“I wouldn’t doubt that. Hurry up, we have to go.” I say, grabbing the folder off of the counter.

 

-Carmilla POV-

I was home for about an hour before I heard Laura and Lily walk into the apartment. I stayed in place on the beaten up couch in the office reading through papers and getting my lesson plan ready for the next day. Before I knew it, Laura was walking into the office and closing the door behind her. “I’m sorry.”

“Okay.” I say coldly, not looking up from the paper. She sighs and walks out of the room, she leaves the door open and I see her walk across into the bedroom, making sure to look like I’m still reading the paper I watch her as her eyes light up in awe. She looks over at me, and smiles, running over and jumping onto me, kissing me softly.

“I knew you couldn’t stay mad at me.” She smiles, resting her forehead on mine. “The flowers are beautiful.”

“White roses, just like you like.”

“You always know my favorite things.”

“That’s what being a good partner is.” I whisper, kissing her cheek.

“I have some news.”

“Okay?” 

“My dad found a girlfriend.”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah, some friend of his set them up, he wants me to meet her tomorrow over coffee, then he wants you and Lily to meet her.”

“Are you happy he found someone?”

“I’m happy he’s happy.”

“Did you tell Lily yet?”

“Not yet, I want to get an opinion of the woman before I tell Lily.”

“Can I go with you tomorrow?”

“Don’t have you conferences?”

“I don’t have any scheduled for tomorrow. I have some the next day though, I mean, if it isn’t trouble.”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Of course cupcake.”

“I know I don’t really have to ask you this, but why don’t you like Danny for the sake of her being Lily’s other mother?”

“Because how could someone not want to spend time with their child all the time? How could someone love a kid so much and yet never want to see them? It amazes me that she never seems to really care full on about Lily being her daughter, she treats Lily like an inconvenience.” I sigh, looking Laura in the eye. “She isn’t even mine. Lily isn’t even mine and I feel like I give that kid more respect than the person you share her with. I love your daughter like my own and I can’t say the same for Danny.”

“Danny wasn’t on board really when I decided to get pregnant, I mean, she loved the idea of having a baby but she never took it seriously. After Lily was born she began to resent the fact that I was a working mom, her schedule was easier to be flexible, and so she was left with Lily most of the time. Then when Lily was older and I took the promotion at work, she began to resent me even more, and the rest is history. I don’t agree with Danny on a lot of things, and if I was really up to me I wouldn’t let Lily see her, but I don’t want that for Lily. I want my daughter to know who her parents are, and there is not reason for her to be deprived of that. Lily is old enough to make her own choices now.”

“That still doesn’t excuse her shitty attitude towards you two.”

“I know it doesn’t, but I don’t want you to discredit her entirely. She was still a major part of my life, and it isn’t fair to do that to her.”

“I’m sorry, I can’t be nice to someone who blames other people for their shitty-ness.”

“For the sake of Lily and I, I would appreciate it if you got over yourself and did.”

“Do you still care for her?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Do you still love her? Do you still care for her?” I ask, watching Laura’s face fall and her eyes not wanting to meet mine. “You love her?”

“It’s complicated.” She whispers.

“It’s complicated? It’s fucking complicated?” I shout, standing up from the couch. “What’s so complicated about it? Am I not good enough?”

“Don’t get melodramatic about it, of course you’re good enough, you’re more than I could ever want, it’s just that I don’t know what’s going on in my head some times. I hate Danny beyond belief when she does something to Lily that isn’t fair, it eats away at my core, but at the same time, there is still a love there that will never go away. I bet if you saw your ex-wife one day, you would feel the same way.”

“I haven’t spoken to her since my son died. I wouldn’t have that spark for her because it was never there to begin with. Grated I loved her, that is true, but to think that the longing for her is everlasting… it isn’t.” I say, shaking my head.

“What are we going to do then?”

“What does that mean? I don’t want to leave you; I don’t want Danny to be the wedge that destroys what we have. I love you. I love you more than anything in the entire world, which is by far the only thing that matters to me. _You_ are all that matters to me. You, and Lily, and even that shit head Miles. You three are all I care for. You are all I ever will care for.” Laura looks at me with tears in her eyes; she looks down and shakes her head. “Is it still fucking complicated?”

“I’m sorry.” She whispers, looking up at me with tear stained cheeks. “Where are you going?” She cries as I start to leave the room.

“I have to get out of here for a couple of hours, I need to calm down.”

“Don’t leave Carmilla, please.” She says, pushing the door closed and sitting in front of it, blocking me from leaving. “I’m not letting you leave.” She says, shaking her head back and forth.

“What do you want me to do? Sit here while you make up your mind Laura?”

“I want to be with you, I love you so damn much, I just still have feelings for Danny, but I don’t want to get back together with her or anything like that. It’s just a constant feeling I have for her due to the fact that we have a child together; I don’t want anyone else but you.” I look down at Laura and sigh, sitting down in front of her and wrapping my arms around her waist, pulling her tight against me. She wraps her arms around the back of my neck and holds me tight, crying into the crook of my neck. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” I whisper in her ear. “I love you Laura. I really do.”

“I love you too, I love you so much.”


	11. Chapter 11

-Laura POV-

“Hey pumpkin.” My dad says happily as I walk up to him giving him a hug.

“Hey dad, how are you?”

“Good, very good.” He smiles, turning towards a woman that was standing behind him. She was shorter than he was, and had reddish-brown hair. “Laura, this is Rachel. Rachel this is my daughter Laura.”

“Nice to meet you, your father has nothing but good things to say about you.” She smiles, shaking my hand.

“It’s nice to meet you too, it’s nice to know my dad met someone.”

“My son says the same about me.” She laughs.

“Shall we get out of this cold?” My dad suggests and we follow him into the diner, the coffee date turned into a breakfast, something I wasn’t going to object to. We walk in and the hostess leads us to a booth in the far corner of the building. Rachel and my dad sit next to each other which made me, feel a little awkward. “How are you and Carmilla?” Dad asks looking over the menu.

“We’re okay.”

“Who’s Carmilla?” Rachel asks. 

“My girlfriend.” I smile, watching her expression change.

“Sherman didn’t tell me you were…”

“It isn’t my place to out my daughter to her when we first met, I hope that doesn’t bother you.”

“No, not at all.” Rachel shakes her head.

“That doesn’t seem convincing.” I snicker, looking over the menu.

“Laura, please.”

“What? You want me to agree with a woman that doesn’t agree with my sexuality?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“But that’s what you expect.”

“I have nothing against you being a lesbian, I don’t. It doesn’t matter to me, you’re an adult, and you know how you want to live you life.”

“Say that with a little more oomph next time and maybe I’ll believe you.” I say, getting out of the booth and leaving, ignoring my father as he calls me name. I get into my car and start driving, no destination in particular. I find myself in the cemetery where my mom is buried and I sigh, I pull up to the familiar oak tree, void of leaves seeing as it was the middle of winter. I sigh, getting out of the car and walking through the tombstones until I find hers, covered over with snow. I take my hand and brush away the snow and frost from her name. “Hi mom.” I whisper, shoving my hands into my pockets. “Dad found someone. She seems like a bitch, but I don’t think I gave her enough of a chance. I miss you. I don’t know how to feel about him meeting someone else. I mean, of course I am happy for him, but I just feel like it isn’t right for him to be with someone while you’re lord knows where.” I sigh, fighting the urge to cry. “I just hate that you aren’t here. I hate that you got sick and left. It isn’t fair mom. I feel like I’m alone, I know I have Carmilla, but having her it isn’t… I don’t know, I mean she’s good to me, and she’s amazing with Lily, but there seems as if something is lacking. Maybe it’s me, maybe I’m making it lack. Maybe I’m not giving my whole heart to her. I don’t want to be let down again mom, I know she won’t do something like that, but it feels like if I’m not careful she’ll pull the rug out from under me. I just can’t stop that thought from being in the back of my mind.” I wipe the tears from my cheeks. “I miss you, I don’t know how to not miss you. I’m so angry that you were taken away. I’m trying to be the same as I was, but it’s so hard. I know I have Lily to worry about, and she’s the only person that makes me feel happy, every time she smiles it reminds me of you mom… I got a promotion of sorts, well more of a schedule change, I’m anchoring the morning weekend news, I know you’d have been happy about that, you wouldn’t have had to stay up late to see me.” I chuckle. “I love you mama, I miss you so much.” I say, patting her headstone before making my way back to my car. I get in and sit there for a moment, willing myself not to cry but failing entirely. Suddenly feeling anger bubbling up inside myself, I begin beating at my steering wheel and crying even more. It take me a little while to calm down, but when I finally do, I make my way home. I’m happy to see Carmilla’s car wasn’t in her usual parking spot. I made my way into the apartment and into the bathroom to take a hot shower. I wrap myself in my thick bathrobe and lie on my bed staring up at the ceiling. 

* * *

“Mom?” I hear Lily whisper, shaking my shoulder.

“What’s wrong?” I mumble, opening my eyes to see her standing over me.

“I’m home, I guess you fell asleep or something.”

“I guess I did. Is Carmilla home?”

“Yeah, she’s in the office, I woke you up because it’s after three, I don’t know how long you’ve been asleep, but I know you don’t like to sleep into the evening if you’re taking a nap.”

“Thank you sweetie.” I smile, sitting up and wrapping her in a hug.

“You’re welcome mom.” She says, kissing the side of my head before breaking from my embrace and making her way back into her room. I stretch and walk over to put something on and make my way into the office. I knock on the door and walk in to see Carmilla sitting on the couch with her laptop on the coffee table in front of her and a stack of papers.

“Hey.” I say quietly, watching her jump slightly and look up at me with a warm smile. She takes off her glasses and closes her laptop as I make my way over to her. I sit down in her lap and wrap my arms around her, burying my face in the crook of her neck.

“Is everything okay?” She asks, wrapping her arms around me.

“I’m having a bad couple of days.” I admit, not wanting to move from my position.

“Would you feel better if I told you I bought those cookies you like from the bakery by my mom’s?”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I stopped there on my way home from school. I had a feeling you haven’t been too good and I wanted to make sure you were okay and I was sure you needed cheering up so…”

“You’re the best, you know that?” I ask, looking at her with a small smile.

“I try.” She shrugs, leaning in to kiss me softly. “I worry about you, I don’t want to ever argue with you if we can help it.”

“I feel the same way.”

“Good. How did things with your dad go?”

“I stormed out when the lady made a face about me being gay.”

“Whoa, Laura Hollis has the nerve to do such a thing?”

“Yeah, she seemed like a bitch any way, her name was Rachel.”

“I’m assuming your dad is going to call it quits at that?”

“I don’t know, he’s an adult, he can do what he wants, I just don’t want Lily to be around someone negative like that.”

“If he’s happy…”

“Then he can be happy, and I’ll play nice.”

“Okay cupcake.” She says, kissing the side of my head. “How was your day besides?”

“Not great. I went to the cemetery for the first time in a long time, and then I came home and fell asleep after I showered. It seems like a harder day than it needed to be.”

“Well I’m here for you cupcake, and I love you more than words can explain.”

“I know Carm.” I smile, kissing her softly. “I love you too.”

“Now, seeing as I don’t want to drag you into a smelly school, I would like to talk to you about Lily’s grades for a moment.”

“Why yes Ms. Karnstein.” I say playfully.

“You’re such a dork.” Carmilla smiles. “Anyway, Lily is of course a smarty pants in more ways than one. Her grades are beyond perfect and I’m assuming, and know, that it’s her own doing. I know she was mad that I gave her a ‘B’ here and there, but after I explain why I gave her the grade, she understands and works harder on the areas that she feels she’s lacking in. She hasn’t slammed anyone into lockers lately, which is a success.”

“Everything I already knew.” I smile, leaning in to kiss her softly and getting up from the couch.

“Where are you going?”

“To get a cookie or two.”

“Well come back as soon as you get them.”

“Why is that?”

“I want to talk to you some more.” 

“Okay.” I walk out of the room and towards the kitchen to find Lily watching TV with Miles curled up at her side on the couch. “Hey kiddo.”

“Hi mom, are you okay?”

“I’m just fine sweetie, just had a long day. I didn’t like grandpa’s new girlfriend.”

“Grandpa has a girlfriend?”

“Yeah, they just started dating, I don’t like her though. I don’t think she likes me for different reasons.”

“Is it because you like girls?”

“Yeah.” I say, getting cookies out of the box and sitting next to Lily on the couch. 

“Would you be mad at me if I ever liked girls?”

“No. I could never be mad at you for something like that.” I say, caressing her cheek. “I will love you no matter who you bring through that door. As long as you’re happy and they make you happy, there is no reason for me to be disappointed in you based on who you like.”

“Okay, I think I like this girl, but I don’t know.” Lily says, bowing her head.

“Well, how does she make you feel?”

“Happy, like when I see her I get this funny feeling in my stomach and I can’t stop smiling.”

“Do you know if she likes you?”

“I don’t know, but I think she might. She always wants to sit by me in lunch, and she’s always smiling at me.”

“What’s her name?”

“Alicia. She’s so pretty mom.”

“Well, if things work out, I would like to meet her when the time is right.” I smile, kissing Lily on the cheek.

“I love you mom.”

“I love you monkey.” I smile, getting up from the couch. “I’m gonna start in dinner soon.”

“Okay.”

“Did you do your homework?”

“Yeah, I finished it already.”

“Good.” I nod, making my way back to the office. I find Carmilla assaulting the keyboard of her laptop.

“Everything okay?” She asks, not looking up for a moment, finishing up what she was doing.

“I think Lily just came out to me in a subtle way.” I say, sitting down beside her and taking a bite of the cookie in my hand.

“She told you about Alicia?”

“How did you know?”

“My classroom isn’t that far away from the cafeteria, I always see Alicia waiting for Lily when they have lunch together. Did you forget that I see Lily more than you do?”

“I tend to forget that small fact, yes.”

“Well, I see Lily more often than you do, and I watch her like a hawk some days more than others.”

“If you knew why didn’t you tell me?”

“It’s not my place to out your kid.”

“But I could have been given a heads up.”

“That’s kinda the same thing.” Carmilla shrugs. “Hey, don’t get mad that I didn’t tell you, at least she told you.”

“I guess you’re right.”

“Seeing as we’re on the topic of Lily, what are we doing for her birthday, did she decide yet?”

“I don’t know what she wants to do, I think she may just want a few of her friends for a sleepover.”

“That’ll be good. Unless you want me to hideout in my office so no one knows.”

“We’ll talk to Lily about that.”

“Okay.” Carmilla smiles. “Your birthday is also in question, cutie.”

“I don’t want anything special for my birthday, you, Lily, and I can just go out to dinner or something like that. I don’t want a party.”

“It’s your day, whatever you say goes.” She says, leaning in to kiss me.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.” 

* * *

Sure enough Lily wanted a sleepover with a few girls from her classes, Alicia being one of them. “Are you sure you don’t care if Carmilla is around?” I ask, getting snacks together while Lily waits for her friends to begin showing up.

“You love Carm, and that’s all that matters, I don’t care if they make fun of me for it or whatever, you love her, and I love her and that’s all that matters.”

“Okay sweetie.” I smile, kissing her on the cheek. “Everything is set, once your friends get here you have full control of the living room and TV, Carm and I will be in and out, but we’re going to be in our room if you need anything at all.”

“Thanks mom.” Lily smiles, giving me a hug. “Mama texted me, she wants to take me out to dinner next week for my birthday.”

“That’s okay, I just don’t want her introducing you to some bimbo she just met.”

“I think she knows you would kill her if she did that.”

“I would.”

“Why is your mom killing someone?” Carmilla asks, walking into the kitchen and stealing some chips.

“She’s gonna kill mama if mama introduces me to one of her bimbos.” Lily informs.

“Ah, well I’ll kill her too.” Carmilla chimes. “Are we getting any snacks too cupcake?”

“We have our own tray of snacks on the counter over there, can you bring them to our room, try not to eat it all before I get there.”

“I can’t make promises, you know I love cheeses.” Carmilla smiles, she kisses me quickly before grabbing the tray. “Are we drinking tonight?”

“No, I don’t want to drink with kids around.”

“Okay.”

“You can drink, if you want to.”

“Water is fine with me cupcake.” Carmilla grabs a few bottles out of the fridge; she kisses me on the cheek before disappearing back into our room.

“She’s a keeper mom.” Lily says with a smile.

“I know she is.”

“Are you gonna get married again? Cause I think Carm would be a great wife.”

“We’ll see what happens kid.” I smile, watching Lily run towards the door after she heard knocking.

“Hi.” She smiles widely, her cheeks turning slightly pink. A girl, about the same height as Lily, with light brown hair walks through the door. She was a pretty girl, although something about her seemed shy and closed off when she turned and saw me. “Mom this is Alicia, Al this is my mom.”

“Nice to meet you Ms. Hollis.” Alicia smiles, giving me a small way.

“It’s nice to meet you too, please you can call me Laura. Ms. Hollis makes me feel old.”

“Okay.” The girl says quietly, looking back at Lily. After a moment there was another knock on the door, a couple more girls walked in, friends of Lily’s I have known for a few years now, which made things easy.

“Okay, there are snacks in here, drinks in the fridge if you girls want anything like pizza or whatever, just tell Lily and she’ll come get me, if there is an emergency my door is the first on the right, just come knock. Have fun, and don’t stay up too late.” I smile, giving the small group a wave before going to my room to find Carm lying back in bed watching TV. “Thank goodness. What are we watching? I want to catch up on Scandal.” I say, taking the remote and switching the TV to Netflix.

“As long as I can eat finally, I don’t care what we watch.”

“Go ahead you baby, eat.”

“Thank you.” She groans, kissing my cheek before digging into the tray of food. We’re halfway through the third episode of Scandal; I’m resting my head on Carmilla’s shoulder while she’s absentmindedly running her fingers through my hair.

“Hey Carm?” I ask waiting as she hums a response. “Would you ever want to get married?”

“What makes you ask that?”

“Lily mentioned something, I just want to know if you would? Like do you see this being a long term thing?”

“I would like to see it hold out for the long term, I wouldn’t see it being any other way really.”

“So you see marriage in our future?”

“It may be the distant future, but yes I do.” She smiles, looking down at me slightly. I look up and her and kiss her softly, a knock on our door breaking the kiss. I get out of bed to see what’s going on.

“What’s up Lil?”

“We’re hungry.”

“You want pizza don’t you?”

“If that’s okay.”

“No problem, I’ll be in there in a minute to call.”

“Thank you.”

“I have to order pizza for the monsters, do you want anything?”

“No thanks cupcake, I ate enough.” Carmilla says, patting her bloated stomach.

“Okay.” I smile, leaning in to kiss her. “I’ll be back.”

“I’ll be waiting.” She smiles as I walk backwards towards the door.

“So, marriage is in our future?”

“Most likely.”


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just a quick chapter due to the fact that I'm planning a time jump for the next chapter and didn't feel right putting it in this one and dragging it out more. Either way, enjoy :)
> 
> Side Note: I just realized the age of Lily didn't match up properly with the grade see was in, I changed it from thirteen to twelve, so rather than her being fourteen, she's thirteen.

-Carmilla POV-

“Okay, you all better read the assigned chapters for tomorrow, there will be a quiz. If you don’t read, you will fail the quiz and some of you need the grade to help push you through this quarter.” I say, looking at the clock as it ticks down to the bell, once it rings everyone gets up and ushers out of the classroom. “Hollis!” I call out before Lily exits the room; I wave her over towards my desk. I look over her shoulder to see Alicia waiting for her across the hall, leaning against the lockers.

“Yeah?”

“You’re not in trouble, I already told your mom, but I’m taking you with me after school.”

“Where are we going?" 

“Shopping for something top secret, I just want your help.”

“Okay, is it for her birthday?”

“No, I’m not going to give her this for her birthday, I’m going to wait.”

“Oh, okay. Where do you want me to meet you?” She asks, smiling over her shoulder when she sees Alicia.

“Here, you can meet me here. I won’t keep you from your lady any longer, you can go.”

“She isn’t my lady.”

“Whatever you say.” I tease, watching her walk out of the room.

* * *

“Where are we going?” Lily asks as we walk out to my car.

“We are going to a store, where you are going to help me pick something out.”

“Can I get a hint?”

“You can wait until we get to the mall.”

“The mall is my only hint isn’t it?”

“Pretty much.”

“You’re annoying some times.”

“Yeah well.” I shrug looking for a parking spot. We get out of the car and I lead the way through the mall, finding the right store.

“Are you buying mom a ring?” Lily nearly shouts when we walk into a jewelry store.

“Surprise. You better not tell her.” I say, pointing my finger at her.

“I won’t I promise. You want me to help you pick it out?" 

“Please, I don’t want to get her something that your mother got her, but I also want a second opinion before I jump on something.”

“What’s in it for me?”

“Whatever you want to eat and I’ll get you a book in Barnes and Nobles.”

“Deal.” Lily says, walking over to the engagement rings. “I like this one.” She says pointing out a simple silver band with a single diamond. “It’s not flashy, it’s simple. Mom likes simple, she wouldn’t want something flashy, and mom doesn’t like to show off.

“Okay, I trust you kiddo.” I say, patting her shoulder as a salesperson walks over to help us. They take the ring out of the case and hand it to me; I look it over before handing it to Lily.

“This is the one. We’ll take it. Let’s go to Barnes and Noble now.” Lily says, walking out of the store.

“Is that your daughter?” The person behind the counter asks with a smile.

“Soon to be.” I chime, handing them the ring to put in a box. After paying for the ring I meet Lily outside of the store to see her playing on her phone. “Let’s go kid.”

“Where you are going to keep that so she doesn’t find it?”

“That I’m going to have to figure out.” I say as we walk to the bookstore.

“I’ll keep it in my locker if you want me to. It’s just a thought.”

“I don’t want it to get lost though. You’re in and out of there a lot.”

“I’ll keep it on the back of the shelf.”

“I’ll think about it, if not, I’ll just hide it in my car.”

“Okay, what are you getting her for her birthday?”

“I don’t know. I don’t want to give her something big or something expected.”

“Give her the ring then.”

“It’s too soon to do that kid.”

“Get her cookies, or these expensive creampuffs she loves from this French bakery a couple of towns over, she never gets them except for on extra special occasions. She would be happy to get them.” Lily explains as we make our way through Barnes and Noble to the section she wanted a book from.

“Maybe we’ll go there after this and pick them up.”

“She’s going to be wondering where we are.”

“She also thinks I don’t know it’s her birthday today. I want to surprise her with something she loves, we’re also going to stop and get her flowers.”

“You love my mom a lot, don’t you?”

“I love your mother more than I could love anyone in the entire universe.”

“Good.”

 

-Laura POV-

I walk into the apartment to find it quieter than usual; I set my things down in the kitchen and make my way towards Lily’s room. I open her door to find her doing homework. “Hey kid.”

“Hey mom, Happy Birthday.” She smiles, getting out of bed and giving me a hug.

“Thank you sweetie.” I say, kissing the top of her head. “Where’s Carm?”

“In the office.”

“Thank you.” I say, walking out of her room. I open the door to the office to see Carmilla sitting on the couch with a smile on her face. “Hello.”

“Happy Birthday cupcake.” I smile as she gets up and walks over to kiss me softly. “I got you something.”

“You didn’t have to.”

“I wanted to, come with me.” She says, taking my hand in hers and leading me towards the bedroom. She opens the door and I look in the room to see a bouquet of roses in a vase on the dresser, and a purple box with a gold ribbon around it.

“You drove a half-hour to get me these?” I ask, knowing exactly where the box was from.

“It didn’t seem that bad at all. Lily told me where to go and that you loved them so much.”

“Is that why you stole my daughter today?”

“Pretty much, I needed to know what you would want for your birthday and she was happy she got a trip to Barnes and Noble out of it.”

“Thank you so much.” I say, kissing her quickly before taking a bit out of the creampuff. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” She laughs, wiping cream from the corner of my mouth. “You eat like a toddler.”

“It’s not my fault this thing is more cream than puff.”

“You’re lucky you’re cute.”

“You always say that.” I smile, leaning in to kiss her. “Thank you again.”

“You’re welcome cupcake, anything for you.” She says, wrapping her arms around my waist, holding me close to her as she buries her face in the crook of my neck. “Do you want to do anything else today?”

“Just be with you.” I smile. “And Lily of course.”

“I love you.”

“I love you. You’re hiding something.” I smile, staring into her eyes. “And don’t say you aren’t. I see you are.”

“I hate that you can read me.”

“Well?”

“You’ll know when it’s the right time.”

“Okay.” I smile, kissing her quickly.

“You’re neglecting your child by making out with your girlfriend.” Lily says melodramatically from the doorway 

“How am I neglecting you?”

“I’m starving.”

“I’ll get dinner started.” Carmilla smiles.

“Thank god, a decent meal.” Lily sighs.

“What does that mean?”

“Not that you’re a bad cook, Carmilla is just better.”

“Well then.”

“Come on ma, you said it yourself I needed to broaden my horizons when it came to food, Carmilla broadened that horizon.”

“Okay, okay.” I smile, kissing the top of Lily’s head before meeting Carmilla in the kitchen. “Do you need any help?”

“No thanks, it’s your birthday cupcake, go relax. I don’t want you to think or worry about anything.”

“Hey, even though my kid says you’re a good cook doesn’t mean I don’t get nervous when you’re around the stove.”

“The fire extinguisher is under the sink, I know already.”

“You know because you’ve needed to replace it twice.”

“Look, you can watch me from the couch. Okay?” Carmilla smiles kissing my cheek as she hands me a glass of wine.

“Okay.” I nod, letting her start dinner while watching her like a hawk.

“I know Carmilla is a really good cook and all, but why does she always set something on fire?” Lily asks, sitting down next to me.

“Because she focuses too much on one thing and before you know it a dishtowel is in flames.”

“Is that why you buy them and hide them from Carmilla?”

“Exactly. I hide them because she’ll find them and they’ll all disappear.”

“You two aren’t as quiet as you think you are!” Carmilla calls out.

“Focus on what you’re doing before I come in there to babysit you.” I call back, resulting in Carmilla laughing. I get up from the couch and walk into the kitchen, hopping up to sit on the counter.

“You’re going to watch me?” She asks, looking up at me with a smile.

“Yes.”

“You’re a pain in the ass.” Carmilla says, standing between my legs and kissing me softly. “I love you.”

“I love you.” After dinner, Lily insisted she cleaned up seeing as it is my birthday, something she never does, only when she wants something out of it. After she was done, she went into her room for the rest of the night, making sure to say goodnight to Carmilla and I before picking up Miles and disappearing. I sit next to Carmilla on the couch and smile. “Thank you again. For everything.”

“You’re very welcome cupcake. Anything for you.” She smiles, kissing me softly.


	13. Chapter 13

-Carmilla POV-

“I will miss all of you, have a great summer and good luck next year if I don’t have you for eighth grade English. If I do, then you have one more year to deal with me before you move up to the high school.” I smile, chuckling as some of the boys in the class groan. “Come on, I’m not that bad. Besides, the high school is worse, so be happy while I’m your teacher because you will miss me.” I chime, once the bell rings the kids nearly run out of the class, barely leaving room for Lily to come walking in with Alicia close behind.

“Hey Carm.” She smiles. It has been a few months since her birthday, and since she and Alicia decided to become a thing, which meant Alicia was at the house as much as she was allowed to be. Resulting in her finding out that I was dating Laura, and Alicia only caring about whether or not I was fair when it came to grading papers and tests, and that I wasn’t just handing Lily good grades because I was with her mother.

“Hey kiddo, ready to go?” I ask, walking over to the desk and grabbing my bag.

“Is it okay if Alicia comes over?”

“Did you ask your mom?”

“She said to ask you.”

“Oh, I don’t mind, as long as your parents know.”

“They know. They don’t care.” Alicia smiles.

“Okay then, let’s go.” I smiles, as the girls lead the way out of the room. “Did you girls clean out your lockers?”

“Yes.” They say in unison before looking at each other and giggling. After we get home the girls retreat to Lily’s room, making sure to leave the door open, a rule set more by Laura than myself.

“Your mom is going to be home soon, you know you’re going with Danny tonight, right?”

“Yeah, I remember. I don’t want to go.”

“I know you don’t kiddo, but you haven’t seen your mom in weeks.”

“I know. I have a game on Sunday.”

“Your mom and I will get you before the game. Are you coming Alicia?”

“I think so, my mom said she would drop me off.”

“Okay, well let Lily know.”

“I will.” She smiles at Lily.

“Door open, you know your mom will kill me if it’s closed.”

“I know.” Lily says, rolling her eyes as I leave the room. I walk back towards the kitchen to see Laura walking through the door; she looks up at me, and smiles.

“Hey you.” I chime, wrapping my arms around her and giving her a kiss.

“Hey.” She smiles, kissing me again. “How was your day?”

“The last day of school is always bittersweet. It’s nice to say goodbye to my eighth-graders, but I hate that my seventh grade is going to be some of my eighth cause that just means I’m getting old.”

“Well, I don’t think you will ever stop looking good no matter how old you get. You’ll always be sexy.”

“You will always be sexy too.” I smile, kissing her softly. “Are you ready for tonight?”

“Of course, even though you won’t tell me anything.”

“Oh yeah. Sorry about that, it’s meant to be a secret and a surprise.”

“Yeah, I get that, but I hate surprises.”

“I know.” I smile, kissing her cheek and sitting down on the couch.

“You won’t even give me a hint?”

“Dinner.” I say, looking up at her. “I’m taking you somewhere nice for dinner.”

“Formal nice or casual nice?”

“Semi-formal nice. But more formal than casual.”

“Okay, are we going to drop Lily off on the way or?”

“I’ll take her to your dad’s then I’ll come back to get you.”

“I’m assuming Alicia is here.”

“When isn’t she here? We’re gonna have to charge her rent soon, seeing as she’ll be back and forth as much as she can be this summer.”

“Lily has practice nearly every day, and games every Sunday. As much as she likes Alicia, it’s gonna be hard for them to see each other.”

“Young love will find its way of being together.”

“I know. When are we leaving?”

“I’ll take Lily around six, we have a reservation for seven.”

“Okay.” She smiles, kissing me again before making her way to our room.

 

-Laura POV-

I’m putting the finishing touches to my make-up when my phone starts ringing. I look to see Lily was calling. “Hey sweetie.”

“Mom?”

“What’s wrong?”

“We were in an accident, Carm is hurt.” Lily cries.

“Where are you?” I ask, rushing around the room to find something to put on seeing as I was still in my robe from taking a shower.

“I called grandpa, he’s meeting us at the hospital. Carmilla is hurt bad mom.”

“I’ll be right there, everything will be okay.”

“Don’t hang up mom, please.”

“I won’t. I’ll be there soon sweetheart, everything will be okay. Carmilla will be okay.” I say, trying to convince myself more so than Lily. I talk to Lily until I’m halfway to the hospital, a nurse in the background telling her she had to hang up the phone in order to be examined properly. As soon as I get to the hospital I make my way into the emergency room. “My daughter was just brought in here, she was in an accident, and my girlfriend.”

“Right, go straight back and ask at the desk.” The security guard says, pushing the button to unlock the door. I walk through the back, talking to several people before I see Lily sitting on a gurney in a hallway with my father standing in front of her, almost like he’s her bodyguard.

“Mom!” She shouts, opening her arms for me. I hold her tight and sit next to her.

“Where’s Carmilla?” I ask my dad.

“Surgery.” He says, bowing his head. “She was hit on her side pretty badly, she lost blood… They’re hopeful though.”

“Oh god.” I saw, fighting back tears.

“Her surgery is taking place on the tenth floor, there’s a waiting room, if you want to go up there and hang around, I’ll take Lily home.”

“I want to stay with mom.”

“You should go with grandpa, I don’t know how long I’ll have to wait.”

“I think you should come back to the house, get some rest.”

“I’ll call you as soon as I know something. Go back to grandpa’s and tomorrow you’ll have to go to mama’s…”

“I don’t want to! Can I stay with you grandpa?”

“I’ll call Danny and let her know what happened.”

“Thank you.” I smile sadly, kissing Lily on the side of her head. I go to the desk and talk to a nurse who gives me paperwork to fill out and sign before they allow Lily to leave the hospital. After signing everything and giving Lily one last hug, I make my way to the tenth floor and wait. I walk into the waiting area to see it was nearly empty except for one other woman with dark hair, who was reading a book. She looks up at me and gives me a small smile before going back to her book, I take a seat and watch TV before I know it, I fell asleep and was being woken up by a gentle push to my shoulder. I open my eyes to see Ell face to face with me.

“Hey.” She says softly.

“Hey, what time is it?”

“It’s nearly midnight. Carmilla is out of surgery.”

“Who called you?”

“I – I don’t know if it’s my place to say.”

“That’s not something I want to hear.”

“I don’t know if Carmilla ever told you she was married before?”

“She did.”

“Well, being the lazy sack she is, she never got around to changing her next of kin and so…”

“Are you kidding me?” I ask looking around the room to see the dark haired woman was gone. “Where’s Carmilla?”

“She’s still in post op, they’re getting ready to move her to the ninth floor, room 910.”

“Great.” I say getting up from the chair and making my way downstairs to her room, I walk in to see the dark haired woman sitting in the corner of the room at the foot of Carmilla’s bed just staring at her. I look at Carmilla to see different tubed and wires leading from one machine and under the blanket somewhere, and an oxygen tube under her nose. She looks peaceful, despite everything going on around her, the stitches over her left eyebrow, and the cast that was hidden mostly by the blanket except for the top of her arm. I look over to see the dark haired woman was wearing scrubs, which further led me to believe it was indeed Carmilla’s ex-wife. I walk up beside Carmilla’s bed, taking her hand in mine and giving it a slight squeeze, causing one of the machines to beep a little more than it was before I touched her.

“She’s responding to your touch, it’s making her heart rate pick up.” The woman says, not moving from her seat.

“I don’t need a machine to let me know that her heart rate picks up when I’m around her.” I unintentionally snap.

“I’m Alexis, by the way. I don’t know if she told you about me or not…” 

“No she has, and she was right, you look like you belong on a Victoria’s Secret runway.”

“Carmilla was always a charmer.’ Alexis laughs. “If anything she was the runway model.”

“Yeah, I’m Laura.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m assuming Ell told you partly why I’m here.”

“Carm never changed her next of kin.”

“And when I saw her wheeled into my operating room, I couldn’t do the surgery.”

“Why not?”

“It was the first time I saw her in over five years, and to know that her life was in my hands, it was something I wasn’t ready to put myself through, so I backed out.”

“What did they do?”

“Her whole left arm was shattered, she needed it to be screwed back together again, and she needed other things done, when I saw her get wheeled in I zoned out and didn’t really retain the rest. Her head was okay, no swelling of the brain or anything like that, she lost some blood, bit that was because of the cuts to her left side and the one on her head was pretty bad. Other than that, there was no reason for her not to be shaped back together again.”

“I don’t care what happened, as long as she was okay.”

“She’s more than okay. She Carmilla Karnstein, nothing can take her down, I only ever seen her cry once…” Alexis says quietly, finding her-self tear up at the thought that just went through her head. “When our son was essentially dying, that was the only time I saw her cry.”

“I’m very sorry that that happened to your son.”

“It’s okay, the little guy would have been five this week. It’s still hard.”

“It’s hard for Carmilla too, I find her thinking about him from time to time, it’s not something that’s easy to get over.”

“No, no it isn’t.” Alexis says, taking a deep breath. “She should wake up soon, she may seem dazed, but it’s normal. She may want something to drink, she really should drink, let her have ice chips it’s easier to let them melt in her mouth rather than taking a swig of water. She may be in pain, they’ll give her morphine, the easiest way for her not to become addicted to it, seeing as she has had an addictive personality in the past, I don’t know how she is now, but for as long as she’s in here, you can ask the nurse to start lowering her doses after the next couple of days. I’ll be around while she’s asleep, I don’t know how she’ll be if she saw me.”

“Okay.” I say, slowly nodding my head at everything she was saying. All of a sudden a small series of beeps filled the air causing me to jump and look at the monitor next to Carmilla.

“Sorry, that was me, I have to be in surgery now. It was nice to meet you Laura. Maybe I’ll see you around.”

“See you around, it was nice to meet you too.” I smile as Alexis walks out of the room; I take the chair she was sitting in and move it so it is next to Carmilla’s bed. I sit down and take her hand in mine, running my thumb along the back of it. “You scared the shit out of me. I hope you know that. I can’t lose you too. I can’t go on without you, and some jerk just had to go and smash into you. If I were to have lost you, if I would have lost Lily, my life would have been over. Between the two of you, my world would have stopped turning in an instant.” I say, looking at her face, still so angelic despite the cuts to it.

“Well that was a kick.” Carmilla mumbles, opening her eyes, allowing them to adjust to the light before looking over at me and smiling. “An angel.”

“How do you feel?” I ask, standing over her and running my fingers through her hair.

“Like I was hit by a car, oh wait.”

“You’re all broken up and still making jokes.” I smile, kissing her forehead.

“Can I have water?”

“The doctor said you can only have ice chips, you can’t drink water just yet.”

“Of course she would say that.”

“I never said…”

“I know you were talking to Alexis, I was half asleep while you two were talking. I was aware you were in the room. Both of you have a problem whispering.”

“Sorry about that.”

“It’s okay. Can you make this thing go up more, I want to sit up.” She says, looking for the button. I push the button until she says she’s comfortable. “Thanks cupcake.”

“You’re welcome.” I smile, pushing the button for the nurse.

“Yes, what can I get for you? Oh my, Laura?”

“Hey Perry!” I say, wrapping her in a tight hug. “How long have you been working here?”

“I was at the nursing home for a while and I hated it, I finished up my RN and here I am. Laf told me you were dating the grump from the English department.” Perry whispers.

“I’m broken, not deaf.” Carmilla rasps from her hospital bed. “Curly Sue, I’m assuming you’re going to be stuck with me?”

“Every night this week, I will be stuck with you.”

“Lovely, can I please have ice chips? Seeing as I’m an invalid who can’t drink water.”

“She’s going to be grumpier than this when I’m not here, just so you know.” I whisper in Perry’s ear.

“Don’t speak ill of me.”

“Don’t be a grump.” I chime, turning around and smiling at her. She scowl turning into a small smile in a matter of seconds. “Thank you Perry.” I say when she places a container of ice chips and a cup of the table.

“No problem, we’ll catch up soon.” She smiles, hugging me again before checking some of Carmilla’s vitals and jotting things down on a clipboard at the foot of the bed. I look over at Carmilla to see her trying to fill up her cup one-handed.

“Let me help you.” I say, taking the pitcher from her.

“You know I’m going to hate this.”

“I know, but until you’re back to at least eighty-percent, you’re going to need help.”

“I’m not happy about it.” Carmilla pouts, pulling at he oxygen. “I hate this thing, I can breathe.”

“You need to wait until tomorrow, wait for the doctor to give you the okay.”

“I fucking hate this, I hate the person that hit me, and I hope they die.”

“Don’t say things like that.” I say, running my fingers through her hair. “This is just a bump in the road.”

“It’s a fucking crater. A bump would have just been a fender bender, this was something where I almost died, and Lily. Oh god, how is she, where is she?”

“She’s okay, she just has a couple of scratches and was shaken up, my dad took her back to his house, I didn’t want her waiting around, you were in surgery for almost four hours.”

“As long as she’s okay. I want to see her as soon as possible.”

“I’ll bring her in the morning, or I’ll ask my dad to bring her.”

“Anything, I don’t care. Wait, isn’t she supposed to go with Danny?”

“My dad was taking care of that.”

“I love Sherman.”

“He’s worried about you too, so he may want to come up.”

“I would like to see him too, he has something I left there a couple of days ago.”

“What is it?”

“Not telling you. Just when you call him tell him to bring the thing Carmilla left. He’ll know exactly what you mean.”

“Okay then.” I shrug, sitting back down, not letting go of her hand.

“So give me the run down.”

“You lost some blood, you have a rod and screws in your arm, you’re alive.”

“As long as I’m alive and not brain-dead.”

“Exactly.” I say, kissing the back of her hand and leaning back in the chair.

“I wish you could lay with me.” She pouts, rolling her head to face me.

“I know, I don’t want to hurt you or make anything go off.”

“It’s okay cupcake, I’ll just cuddle with you the whole time I’m getting better at home.”

“Oh, shit. I have to call you mom and tell her what happened. I need the time off.”

“Call her tomorrow. I just want to go back to sleep.”

“Okay.” I smile, leaning over to kiss her softly, being mindful of her oxygen. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”


	14. Chapter 14

-Carmilla POV-

I open my eyes to see I’m still in this horrid hospital, it’s been three days since the accident, and I swear it feels like it’s been years since I was out of this bed and took a proper shower. Laura just washing my body, although fun, was beginning to get annoying. I hated being codependent on someone. I needed my independence fast. I look around the room to see that Laura was gone, and it was nearly six in the morning. I turn my head and see Alexis sitting in the corner of the room. “What are you doing here?”

“I got out of a surgery a couple of hours ago and came here to see how you were doing.” She says, getting up from the chair and walking over to me. “How have you been?”

“Aside from this shitty accident happening to me? I’ve been very well. How about you?”

“Married to my work.” She shrugs. “I see you have a new piece of arm candy.”

“Laura is more than just a toy.”

“Whoa, you plan on keeping that together long enough to…”

“You and I were pressured into getting married and you know it.”

“I know that Carmilla, I just wish we stayed together for Owen’s sake.”

“I was in his life every single day, just because I didn’t always read him to sleep doesn’t mean I didn’t care about my son.”

“I’m not saying that. Look, I don’t want to talk about this.”

“Yeah, this is why we haven’t spoken.”

“I’m only here to check on you because you nearly fucking died, I don’t want to get into an argument about parenting and our marriage.”

“Then leave, leave and don’t come check on me, don’t talk to Laura, or her daughter. Don’t talk to Ell, or Mattie. Just go away again. I know you’ve been checking in on me all these years. I’m not stupid.”

“I’m sorry I care about you.”

“I don’t care if you do or don’t, please leave Alexis.” I look at her to see her contemplate her next move, something she was never able to hide since she had a poor poker face. Alexis sighs, looking down at her feet before turning on her heels and leaving the room. Before I know it, Laura and Lily were walking into the room with smiles on their faces.

“Hey Carm!” Lily says, sitting in the chair next to my bed. “How do you feel?”

“Getting better, not in so much pain anymore. I miss home. I can’t wait to be home.”

“We can’t wait to have you back home either.” Laura smiles, walking over to kiss me softly. “At least they took away your oxygen.”

“Yeah, that thing made my nose so dry, it’s gross.” I grimace at the thought of the nosebleeds.

“Have you been nice to Perry?” She asks, pushing my hair away from my face.

“When I see her, I’ve been sleeping every time she’s come in these past two nights. And if I’m not nice to her, she pokes me with something for no reason.” I say, watching Laura hold back a laugh. “You can laugh. Laugh at the expense of the injured.”

“I love you, you dork.” She smiles, kissing the top of my head. “Are you ready to take a little walk today?”

“I guess so.”

“If we don’t get you moving, it’s going to be harder when you’re ready to actually get home, besides, if the doctor seeing you can walk, it’s a good sign that you’re closer to getting better.”

“Okay, okay. Uhm, Lily, do you mind going out into the hall? I need help getting pants on and you don’t need to see that.”

“No problem.” She says, looking at her phone as she walks out of the room and closes the door.

“Do you want a t-shirt on too?” Laura asks, holding up one of my old band t-shirts.

“Please. Maybe I’ll feel more like myself.” I say, sitting up and turning to sit on the edge of the bed. Laura helps me out of the hospital gown, being mindful of my broken arm as she moves every so gently. After she had my shirt on, she knelt down and helped me into my sweatpants before putting on a pair of socks.

“Ready?” She asks, standing up straight.

“Ready.” I say, as she wraps gently pulls me into a standing position, it takes me a moment to gain my balance as Laura pulls my pants up the rest of the way and puts the walker in front of me. She smiles, kissing me quickly before moving out of the way.

“I’ll be right behind you.” She says, taking a hold of my IV pole. “Don’t feel as if you have to rush to prove a point.”

“I can barely get a decent grip on this thing, so it’s going to take a while.”

“You’ll be okay.” She whispers in my ear before kissing my cheek.

“Can you pull my hair back, it’s disgusting.” I feel her begin to gather my hair as best as she could to tie it into a ponytail. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Now get going.” She says, patting my butt. It took nearly an hour to walk the whole circle of the section I was in. I was determined to walk the whole circle, making sure the doctor would see me. “Good job Carm.” Laura chimed as we made it back to my room; I sat down on the bed and looked up at her.

“Thank you cupcake.” I smile as she leans down to kiss me softly. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” She smiles, running her finger over the stitches on my eyebrow.

“Even though I’m all banged up?”

“Of course.”

“You should think of a cool story to tell everyone when school starts up again.” Lily chimes. “Saying you were in a car accident isn’t as cool as saying you were bungee jumping or fighting off a shark while you were surfing in Mexico. Some thing adventurous, like that.”

“When I get home we’ll get a story together kiddo.” I smile.

“Okay.” She chimes, wrapping me in a gentle hug. “I love you Carm.”

“I love you too kid.” I smile, kissing her on the cheek. Laura and Lily spend the majority of the morning with me. “Do you have to go?” I whine as the nurse walks into the room to check on me.

“I have to take Lily to practice and then I’ll be back in a half hour, do you want anything?”

“I want cookies from that place you like so much.” I chime, watching Laura hide a smile.

“Okay, anything else?”

“Coffee.” I whisper. “I need caffeine.”

“Okay.” Laura smiles, kissing me on the forehead. “I love you.”

“I love you too, be careful. Have fun at practice kid, I wanna try to get out of here before your first game.”

“Sunday at three is the first game, you think you’ll be out by then?”

“You two make this place seem like prison.”

“It is a prison. A prison that gives you drugs.” I chime, watching Laura roll her eyes at me.

“You’re unbelievable. Take a nap and I’ll be back before you know it.”

“Fine.” I whine. “Have fun Lily.”

“I will. See you later.”

 

-Laura POV-

After two weeks of being in the hospital, it was finally time for Carmilla to come home. The first thing she wanted to do as a ‘free woman’ was see Lily play soccer, seeing as she missed two of Lily’s games while she was in the hospital and couldn’t bear the thought. “Get me out of here cupcake.”

“You have to stay in the wheelchair Carmilla, it’s policy.” Perry says for the fifth time as she wheels Carmilla to the lobby of the hospital.

“Then pick it up red.”

“Don’t mind her Perry.”

“I haven’t minded her for two weeks, I’m happy she’s finally leaving.” Perry whispers. I couldn’t help but chuckle at the remark.

“Don’t laugh at me.” Carmilla says, looking at us over her shoulder.

“Never would I laugh at you cupcake.” I tease, kissing her cheek when Perry comes to a stop in front of the car.

“Try to be a bit more convincing next time.” Carmilla says, rolling her eyes as she stands up. It takes a moment for her to gain her balance before she gets into the car.

“Thank you for taking care of her.”

“You’re very welcome, don’t be a stranger.” Perry smiles as she gives me a hug.

“I’ll call you and Laf soon, we can do dinner.”

“We’d like that. Oh, I have to go.” She says, looking at the beeper on her hip. She nearly runs back into the building while I get into the driver’s seat.

“Ready?”

“More than, get me out of here.” I lean over and kiss her on the cheek before making my way to the soccer field where Lily’s game was taking place across town.

“I have a chair for you if you end up walking to sit.”

“I don’t want to sit, I walk to walk around as much as I can.” Carmilla says as I park close to the field. “I’ll lean on you cupcake.”

“Okay. Let’s go.” I say getting out of the car, I walk over to her side and help her out. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I never want to be in a bed for an extended period of time ever again.” Carmilla whines, taking my hand in hers and lacing our fingers. “Unless it involves you and I naked.”

“I can agree with that.” I smile, leaning in to kiss her softly. We slowly make our way towards where my dad was stood watching Lily. 

“Hey!” He says excitedly when he turns to see Carmilla and I making our way towards him. “You look happy to be out in the world.”

“I’ve never been happier to smell fresh air in my life.”

“Do you want to sit?”

“No, I’m good Sherman, thank you though.”

“No problem kiddo.”

“I wanna go by the goal post.” Carmilla whispers in my ear.

“Okay.” I say, beginning to lead the way. “Our side or the opposite?”

“Opposite, she can see us better. She doesn’t know I’m coming right?”

“She thinks I had an emergency last minute meeting at work.”

“She’s still that naïve?”

“She’s only thirteen, this morning when I was on the phone with her she was more concerned about seeing Alicia after the game than anything else. It was Alicia, then you, then me.”

“Well at least her priorities are in order.” Carmilla teases. I slap her on the arm playfully.

“I hate you some times.”

“You could never hate me.” She whispers in my ear, kissing the side of my head before putting her focus back into the game. We both get lost in the game, especially when Lily has control of the ball. She looks up for a second, lining up her shot and smiling as the ball sails into the far corner, just out of the goalie’s reach. She cheers with her team before running towards Carmilla and I. “Great shot kid!”

“Thanks Carm. I didn’t know you were coming home today.”

“We kept it a secret.” Carmilla smiles.

“Hollis!” Her coach calls out, pointing towards the game. Lily turns and runs back towards the field.

“She can really go places in this sport.” Carmilla chimes.

“That’s what she wants.” I shrug, looking to see a curious look on Carmilla’s face. “What are you smirking at?”

“Nothing. I was just thinking that I still owe you a date.”

“That you do. But I’m willing to wait until you feel better.”

“No, I owe you one as soon as possible, how about tonight? We can stay home, let Lily go to her girlfriend’s house or your dad’s house and it can just be the two of us.” She says, turning slowly to place her hands around my waist.

“Okay.” I smile, placing my hands in her shoulders, leaning in to kiss her softly.

“You know what. I don’t want to wait ‘til later.”

“Wait for what?” I turn to see Carmilla was kneeling down in front of me. “Carm.” I gasp, feeling tears well up in my eyes.

“Now, I want to do this quick before I can’t get up on my own. If I didn’t get hurt, this would have taken place weeks ago. I love you so much, more than I could love anyone in the world. I love you and you’re daughter more than words could ever explain. There isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t think about you two. I want to spend every moment of my life with the two of you. So…” She smiles, reaching into her pocket, pulling out a simple diamond ring, taking my hand in hers. “Laura Eileen Hollis, will you do me the immense honor of being my wife?” She asks, slipping the ring on my finger as I nod my head. I chuckle as she struggles to get up on her own, holding her hand out for me to help her. I wrap my arms around her neck and kiss her deeply. Cheering erupts from the sidelines. “I guess we had an audience.” Carmilla whispers in my ear, turning to the people and giving them a playful bow. She turns back to me and I bury my face in the crook of her neck as she holds me close.

“I love you.”

“I love you more than anything.” She whispers in my ear, kissing the side of my head. As the game came to an end Carmilla and I make out way back to my dad. We walk up to him to see him smiling widely.

“You had something to do with it, didn’t you?”

“I mean, she did do the right thing and ask my permission.”

“You asked permission?”

“I’m an old fashioned gal.” She shrugs.

“Did she like that ring?” Lily asks, running over to us.

“You knew about it too?”

“I helped pick it out.” Lily informs as she rummages through her duffle bag.

“She helped you?”

“Yeah, months ago?”

“This was planned months ago?”

“It seems as though the investigative journalist didn’t catch on to this one.”

“No I didn’t, I’m shocked this went on right under my nose!”

“Well, I feel better knowing it was a true surprise.” Carmilla smiles squeezing my hand as she kisses me on the cheek. 

* * *

“So you really want to marry me?” I ask as Carm and I lie in bed together, my head on her chest as she strokes my hair with her uninjured hand.

“I _really_ want to marry you.”

“And Lily really helped you pick this out?” I ask, looking at the ring.

“Yes, she did.”

“Want to know something?”

“Sure.”

“Not to bring it up, like I’m not trying to compare really, but this ring surpasses the piece of junk Danny gave me.”

“Do you still have that ring?”

“Your ego is making you want to compare them, isn’t it?”

“I may have some bruised ribs, but never will I have a bruised ego.” I laugh, getting out of bed and walking over to the closet. I look around for the shoebox in the bottom if the closet. I open the shoebox and pull out the ring box, throwing it towards Carmilla. I watch as she opens it and starts laughing. “What the hell is this?” She asks through hysterical laughter. “I need a magnifying glass to see that diamond, if it even is a diamond.”

“Don’t be mean, it was what she could afford at the time. It was sweet.”

“Did she ever get you something better when she could afford it?”

“No, she never tried to upgrade.”

“And that’s where I will always win.” She says, pulling me on top of her. 

“I don’t want to hurt you."

“You’re not. I promise.” She smiles, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear. She smiles up at me; that mysterious smile that always had me trying to figure out what she was thinking, a smile that could never be decoded. “I love you.”

“If I had a dollar for every time you said that.”

“You’d be rich. And so would I.”


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was reading back a few chapters to go over something and I realized I wrote something in a dialogue between Laura and Carmilla about Carm's relationship with her dad, so I decided now was a good time to incorporate that properly into the story...

-Laura POV-

“Hey mom?” Lily asks, walking into the office.

“Yes monkey?” I answer, not looking up from my laptop.

“I wanted to know if it was okay that I sleep over Alicia’s this weekend.”

“You two are pretty serious aren’t you?” I ask, closing my laptop and turning to look at her.

“I mean, I guess so.”

“Now I know you’re only thirteen and I didn’t think I would have to talk about this with you for another year or so, but you know not to do anything until you’re ready. You know there’s nothing to be embarrassed about when it comes to talking to me or Carmilla.”

“I know mom.”

“Have you done anything?”

“No!” She shouts, her face turning bright red. “I mean, no. I haven’t even kissed her, but I know not to do anything like that until I’m ready and she’s ready.”

“Well, I know it’ll be embarrassing to talk to me, but you can talk to Carmilla if it will be a little less embarrassing.”

“Okay mom, so you didn’t answer the question.”

“You can spend the weekend. You can’t be home late though on Sunday, your game is early Monday.”

“I know.” She huffs, rolling her eyes as she walks out of the room. She comes back in a few moments later and wraps me in a tight hug. “I love you mom.”

“I love you too sweetie.” I say, kissing the side of her head. We both leave the office, she goes into her room while I go and check on Carmilla, who was currently napping. I walk into the room to see her lying on her back looking up at the ceiling. “Hey.”

“Cupcake.” Carmilla smiles and rolls her head to the side to look at me.

“How did you sleep?”

“Good. Come here.” She says, patting the bed. I walk over and lie down beside her, wrapping my arm around her waist and resting my head on her chest. I feel her kiss the top of my head before running her fingers through my hair, allowing the comfortable silence to fall around us.

“How are you feeling?”

“Better, I haven’t been in too much pain.”

“Good.”

“Mom, are you taking me?”

“Where are you going?” Carmilla asks, looking at Lily.

“I’m spending the night at Alicia’s.” Lily says quietly.

“I’m assuming you briefed over the talk?” Carmilla asks, sitting up a bit.

“Mom already told me.”

“I know, but this is the first time you’re staying over her house as a couple, things change now Lil.”

“I know, but we aren’t going to do anything. Besides we’re never left alone long enough and we don’t want to. I told mom already that I haven’t even kissed her yet.”

“Well it’s better to be respectful of the girl you like, it’s good for both of you to not push each other, even when it comes to something as simple as a kiss. If you care for her and she cares for you, everything will happen when both of you are ready.”

“I know, I know. Can you take me please, I would like to get there before tomorrow.”

“I’ll be right there, is Miles clean?”

“Yeah, I cleaned his litter box just now.”

“Good. I’ll be right there.” Lily huffs, walking out of the room. “I’ll take her and be back soon.”

“Can you get Chinese food for dinner?”

“Sure.” I smile, leaning in to kiss her softly. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“I’ll be home soon.”

 

-Carmilla POV-

I was sitting on the couch watching something that could only be classified as, mind numbing, when there was a knock at the door. I got up and answered the door to see Danny standing on the small porch area. “Can I help you?”

“How are you feeling?” She asks, gesturing to my cast.

“Like crap, what do you want?”

“I’m here for Lily, I get her this weekend.”

“No you don’t.”

“Yes, I do.” She says. I turn and walk into the kitchen, looking at the calendar to see that Danny didn’t have Lily this weekend.

“No, you don’t.” I say, pointing at the calendar as she stood next to me. “You get her next weekend because you’re supposed to take her to her game. This weekend she’s at a friend’s house. So, back to the first question, seeing as I know you get a copy of the calendar every time Laura makes one, what do you want?”

“I needed to talk to Laura, and before you ask, it really isn’t your concern and I would appreciate you to respect my privacy.”

“I don’t care what you have to talk about, I just don’t want you upsetting Laura.”

“I’m not going to.”

“Okay, I decided to try this place that just opened on the way home from dropping Lily, hopefully it’s good. I got that spicy, chicken, noodle thing you like, I forgot the name, but I know it’s you’re favorite and, oh, Danny, what are you doing here?” Laura asks, taking a breath and looking up as she walked into the kitchen, placing the bags on the table.

“You’re engaged?” Danny asks her eyes zeroing in on Laura’s finger, seeing as the diamond was bigger than anything Danny ever gave Laura.

“Y-yeah.” Laura smiles, playing with her engagement ring.

“You didn’t plan on telling me?”

“Why should I?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I’m your ex-wife and my daughter still lives here.”

“What you just said has no reason behind me having to tell you that I’m engaged, last I checked, you didn’t tell me when you proposed to Betty. I had to find out through Lily months later.”

“When did this happen? Lily hasn’t told me anything.”

“Lily doesn’t have to tell you everything going on in my life, nor does she have to tell me everything going on in yours.” Laura explains, watching Danny’s emotion shift. “Why are you here?”

“I thought I had Lily this weekend.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it, why are you really here?”

“I just wanted to talk to you.”

“About what Danny? There isn’t anything for us to talk about anymore.”

“I miss you.” She whispers.

“You’re not pulling this again, please leave.” Laura says, pointing towards the door.

“Please Laura.”

“No, get out.” Laura says, trying to hold back her anger that was visibly bubbling within her. I reach over and take her hand in mine, lacing our fingers together and feeling the tension begin to fade, Danny doesn’t let this notion pass by as she sighs, turning on her heels and leaving the apartment with the door slamming hard behind her. “I hate her.” Laura says, burying her face in the crook of my neck. I lean back against the counter top, wrapping my arms around her waist, holding her tight.

“I know you do.” I whisper in her ear. She pulls back a bit and stares at me for a moment before leaning in and kissing me softly.

“What are you doing?” She laughs as I start swaying is back and forth around the kitchen.

“I’m practicing.”

“For what?”

“Well I plan on dancing with you at our wedding, I also plan on not having this thing holding my arm together when I do it, so this will be easier when the time comes. Practice makes perfect though.”

“You’re such a dork.” She smiles as I twirl her around.

“And you’re soon to be Mrs. Dork.” I whisper in her ear, causing her to laugh. I kiss the side of her head and let her go. “Now you were saying you got this from some new place?” I ask, gesturing to the take-out bags.

“Yeah, it was closer than going all the way across town to get food. If we like it, it’ll be worth it.”

“That it will be. So I’m starving.”

“Do you want me to make your plate up?”

“Please.” I smile, kissing her quickly before sitting down at the table.

“You don’t want to sit on the couch?”

“Not unless you plan on feeding me. I’ll end up making a mess.”

“True, and I’m getting sick of washing your shirts.” Laura says, placing a plate in front of me.

“At least my shirts are black and you can’t see the stains.” I tease.

“Thank goodness for that.” Laura smiles, rolling her eyes. We eat our dinner in relative silence, sharing small smiles when we look up at each other periodically.

“Do you think Danny will allow me to adopt Lily?” I ask, taking a sip of water. Laura looks up at me, cocking an eyebrow.

“You want to adopt Lily?”

“Yeah, but I don’t need your consent to really, I need hers.”

“I think we should talk about this before you talk to Danny about it.”

“My father is already going through the paperwork.”

“Your father?”

“Yeah, he’s a lawyer.”

“You never told me that, I’m surprised I never even met him yet.”

“He lives far, it’s hard to get together with him, he knows all about you.”

“So you tell him about me, but I know nothing about him?” Laura asks, her attitude slowly changing.

“I’m sorry.” I whisper, looking down at my plate.

“Why?”

“I don’t know. I don’t want you to start a relationship with him based on phone calls and Skype calls. I would like him to be present if he’s going to be in your life, I would like for him to be more like your dad.”

“I want to meet him. I don’t want a half-assed explanation or some excuse as to why I can’t meet him. I know you come from wealth on both sides, so it shouldn’t be hard for him to come here.”

“I – I don’t know.”

“It’s been nearly a year, I met your mom.”

“You work for my mother, that’s barely meeting her.”

“Nothing excuses the fact that it’s been nearly a year and I have yet to meet your father.”

“I’ll see if he can take time away from work to come here, he has to bring me the papers anyway.” 

“So I’m going to meet your dad?”

“Yes, you are going to meet my father.”

“What does he do? What’s his name?”

“He’s a family court and adoption lawyer. His name is Matthew, he works a lot, that’s really why you haven’t been able to meet or talk to him, it takes him so long to answer my texts and respond to my phone calls. I’m not trying to keep him a secret or anything like that, it’s just that he is genuinely a busy man.” 

“Well, I want to meet him. I want Lily to meet him, we should meet him.”

“I know, I know. I’ll arrange it, now back to the topic at hand.”

“I don’t mind that you want to adopt Lily, but I don’t know if Danny will give her consent. I mean, she hasn’t provoked me to revoke her rights as Lily’s parent, she does all the right things when it come to paying her share of child support, so you’d really have to sit down and hope for the best, but if she doesn’t give in to you, I don’t want you pushing it any further. Danny will never let you win.”

“We’ll just have to see.”

“I know you find yourself to be persuasive, but Danny isn’t easily persuaded, especially by someone she doesn’t like.”

“Well, I just want to make sure that she knows where I’m coming from and why I want to do it.”

“Telling her she’s a shit parent won’t make that argument stand.”

“Again, we’ll just have to see.”

“So you really want to adopt Lily?”

“Yes, I do. I see her as my own anyway, why not make it official?”

“I love you.”

“I love you too, Cupcake.” 

* * *

Laura and I were waiting hand in hand for my father by the baggage claim in the airport. “Are you okay?” Laura asks, rubbing my back a bit.

“Yeah, I’m okay. He doesn’t know that I got hurt, he’s probably going to freak out over the cast.”

“Well that’s something small in the grand scheme of things.”

“I know. I just want him to like you. I mean I know he’ll like you, he knows about you, but at the same time…”

“Everything will be okay, even if he is a menace, I will still marry you.” She smiles, leaning in to kiss me softly. I look at her and smile as she caresses my cheek for a moment. I then look over to see my dad walking towards us, looking at his phone briefly before looking up to see Laura and I standing in front of him. He smiles, making his way over to us and wrapping me in a hug.

“Hey kiddo.”

“Hey dad.” I say, holding him for a moment. He pulls back to get a better look at me.

“What happened here?” He asks, gesturing to the cast.

“Long story for when we get home. Anyway, this is my fiancée Laura.”

“It’s nice to meet you Mr. Karnstein.” Laura smiles, extending her hand to him.

“Please, call me Matt.” He smiles, shaking Laura’s hand. “Carmilla’s explanations of you does no justice, you are a very beautiful woman.”

“Thank you.” Laura smiles, her cheeks turning pink.

“We have some things to discuss, and I’m quite hungry. Can we go eat something?” He asks, looking at his phone.

“Sure dad, we’ll go to the diner in town.” I say as I lead the way back to the car after my dad gets his bag.

“So, you wish to adopt her daughter, is that correct?” My dad asks after we get settled at the diner and place our orders.

“Right to business I see.” I joke, taking a sip of my coffee.

“Of course.” He smiles. “Does you ex-wife know about the fact that Carmilla wants to adopt Lily?”

“No, _I_ only found out about it last week.”

“Well, we’re going to have to get in contact with her and see if she will give her consent.”

“We can try to do that tomorrow while Lily is at school, I don’t want her to know that this is happening until it all gets put through.” Laura says, scratching the back of her head.

“That’s fine. The only one we have to focus on is the parent.” He says, putting away some of the paperwork when the waiter comes with our food. “So, Laura, what is it you do?”

“I’m a journalist, I’m the weekend morning anchor on the local news.”

“The local news as it, my ex-wife is your boss?”

“Yes sir.”

“I see, is she nice to you?”

“Extremely, even before I was dating Carmilla.”

“Good. She has her moments, but deep down, she was always a nice woman.”

“That’s true. I see that nice side of her more than anyone else, so it’s nice to know she has a good side while she’s yelling at my coworkers.” Laura laughs.

“You’re such a kiss ass.” I tease, leaning over to kiss her cheek.

“Now remind me, how did you two lovers meet?”

“I was her daughter’s teacher this past year. She got into a fight with this kid, Laura was called into the principal’s office, I came to defend her and the rest is really history” I smile, as Laura takes my hand in hers and squeezes it.

“Well, I honestly wouldn’t want someone other than you for my daughter, Laura.”

“I appreciate you saying that, Matt, thank you.”

“You’re very welcome. I can already tell you’re good for Carmilla, she needs something stable.”

“Well, we are getting married dad.”

“I know, and I’m happy you’re tying down with the right person.”

“Me too.” I smile, looking at Laura and leaning in to kiss her softly. 

* * *

“Are you okay?” Laura asks, running her fingers through my hair.

“Yes cupcake, I’m fine.”

“I don’t want you getting upset if she says no.”

“I know. I’ll try not to get upset.”

“Promise you won’t hit her.”

“I promise.” I smile, leaning in to kiss her quickly. “Let me go.”

“Are you sure you don’t want me to drive you?”

“It’s a five minute walk to the coffee shop, I’ll be okay.”

“I’m just nervous she’ll say no.”

“Calm down, I’m the one that should be nervous, not you.”

“I know, I know.” Laura sighs. I hold her face in my hands for a moment, forcing her to look at me.

“Everything will be okay, whether she says yes or no, I will still love and treat Lily as if she was my own. I won’t for the issue.”

“I love you Carm.”

“I love you too.” I smile, leaning in to kiss her softly before making my way out the door. “My dad said that if she says yes, he wants to meet with her tomorrow to sign papers.”

“Okay, what is he doing today?”

“I think he was going to see Will and his family. I’m not really sure.”

“Okay. I’ll see you in a little bit.” I walk through the door of the coffee shop and spot the jolly red giant right away; I take a deep breath and walk towards her.

“Hey.” She says.

“Hey.” I say quietly, sitting across from her. We stare at each other for a moment; I look down at the table and then back up at her.

“I don’t really have all day, so if you want to talk about something, I’d like to hear it now.”

“I want to adopt Lily, I need your consent.”

“You want to adopt my daughter?” She asks, her eyes nearly popping out of her head.

“Yes, I would like to adopt your daughter. I need your consent before I go through with it thought.”

“You don’t have it.”

“Why not? You’re not forfeiting rights or anything like that, you’re just allowing me to have a parental right to her as well.”

“And you’re not getting it.”

“How come?”

“You’re getting Laura, you’re getting my ex-wife. Lily is still mine, she’s the only connecting to Laura I have left; you’re not going to assume that responsibility for her. I won’t allow you to have that power.” Danny says, leaning back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest. “I’m sorry Carmilla, you can’t have Lily any more than you already do.”

“I respect that, I’m will to give you time to think about the decision, I would like you to think about it and sleep on it.”

“The answer will always be no, I will not sleep on it nor will I think about it because it is something you aren’t getting and that’s that.” She gets up from the table and begins to walk out.

“What if something were to happen to her and we couldn’t get in contact with you? What if she got sick or hurt and Laura was too distraught to go through the paperwork and insurance forms. This is all hypothetical mind you, but what if she can’t be taken care of properly, what if I’m the only one stable enough to make those decisions, and I can’t do it because I’m not her parent. Just what if?” I say, causing her to stop in her tracks and turn around to look at me. “Hypothetical what if’s, would that make you change your mind, at least to think about it? The hypothetical situations, the freak things that could happen and you aren’t here to help us through it. ”

“I – I.” She sighs, looking down at the floor. “I’ll get back to you.” She says, walking out of the shop. I smile to myself before going up to the counter and getting coffee for Laura and I. I make it back home, opening the door to see Laura sitting on the couch.

“How did it go?” She asks, taking the tray from my hand and the bag off of my wrist.

“She said she’d think about it.”

“Was that before or after she said no first?”

“After, I threw a hypothetical situation her way and that made her think about it.”

“Does it involve a hospital?” Laura asks with a chuckle as she sips her coffee and begins digging through the bag.

“You know me so well.” I tease, kissing her cheek before grabbing my coffee.

“Don’t guild trip her into giving in.”

“This is part of the plan, I planted the seed for her to guilt trip herself into giving in. I’m a persuasive genius.” I smile causing Laura to laugh at me for a moment before kissing me softly.

“You’re a pain in the ass.”

“I know.” I chime, kissing her again before taking the bag and making my way towards the couch.

“What’s in the bag?” Laura asks, flopping down beside me.

“A giant cookie for you and a little cookie for me.”

“I love you so much.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I smile, handing her the cookie.


	16. Chapter 16

-Laura POV-

It was by far the worst heat wave of July so far, seeing as it was a pretty bad way to start the month. “Lily, get your head out of the freezer.”

“But it’s so hot.”

“I know it is, that doesn’t mean you stick your head in the freezer.”

“When are we going to grandpa’s? I wanna go in the pool.”

“Soon, when Carmilla gets home from the doctor.”

“Why did she have to make her appointment of the day of grandpa’s party?”

“Because it needed to be exactly two weeks, and today was that day.” I explain.

“Alicia asked if we could get her.”

“Can’t she get a ride here?”

“No, her dad isn’t home and her mom is busy.”

“Okay, we can pick her up, you’re lucky she’s not too far from grandpa’s. Oh, and we’re meeting grandpa’s new girlfriend today, I want you to be nice.”

“Okay, okay. Good, you’re finally home, can we go?” Lily asks when Carmilla walks through the door.

“Let me gather myself kiddo, go finish getting done.” Carmilla says, walking over to me with a smile and kissing me. “Hello.” She whispers, kissing me again.

“How was the doctor?”

“I have to go back in three weeks to get some of this cast cut down, everything towards my shoulder is good, my wrist will just take some more time.”

“Good, at least some of this thing will get taken off.”

“Yeah. So are we ready to go to the Hollis Fourth of July extravaganza?”

“My dad will be happy you called it an extravaganza.”

“You’re putting enough hype to make it out to be that way.”

“I know. Oh we’re meeting a new girlfriend today.”

“Is she obnoxiously homophobic?”

“No, apparently her son is gay and she’s extremely open-minded.”

“What’s her name?”

“Audrey. I’m pretty sure that’s her name.”

“As long as she’s accepting. We shouldn’t have a problem.” Carmilla smiles.

“Can we go now? We have to get Alicia.”

“Oh right, that girlfriend of yours that’s _always_ around, how could I forget.” Carmilla teases. “Please, your highness, let’s not keep your girlfriend waiting any longer.”

“You’re a jerk.” Lily laughs, walking out of the apartment.

“When do you want to tell her?” I whisper into Carmilla’s ear.

“I’ll find the time to, I don’t want it to be an issue, besides I want it to be a surprise.”

“Okay.” I smile, kissing her quickly before grabbing my bags and making our way out to the car. We get to my dad’s house and are the first ones there. Lily and Alicia run over to the gate, letting themselves into the backyard right away. Carmilla and I get a few things out of the car and walk into the house. “Hey dad!” I call out, watching him poke his head out of the kitchen.

“Hey kiddos how are you?” He smiles, taking the bag from my hand.

“Good, how are you?” I ask, kissing him on the cheek.

“Really well, there is someone for you to meet.” He smiles, I look over at Carmilla and reach for her hand. “This is Audrey. Audrey, this is my daughter Laura and her fiancée Carmilla.”

“Nice to finally meet you girls.” The older woman chimes, walking over to give us a hug.

“Nice to meet you too.” 

“Where is your daughter? Lily was it?”

“She’s in the pool with her friend, they couldn’t wait to come over to go swimming.” I say, pointing out the back door. “If it wasn’t so hot out, I would reprimand her into no end, but today I’m letting her manners slide a bit.”

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll catch up with her later.” Audrey says. “So your father tells me you are the weekend morning anchor on channel four?”

“That’s right.”

“And you, Carmilla, are an English teacher.”

“Yes ma’am.” Carmilla smiles. “Do you want anything?” She asks me quietly.

“No thanks.” I smile as she lets go of my hand and walks over to the fridge, getting herself a beer.

“Now, you may hang me for this, but I’m a fan of channel seven.”

“Dad, she’s gotta go.” I deadpan, watching Audrey’s face drop. “I’m kidding. Some people are about ratings, I mean that’s for my boss to worry about, I’m there to make sure you get the right news and that it’s the most accurate.” I say with a chuckle.

“My mother on the other hand would not like to know you watch channel seven, she is the boss in question.” Carmilla says, walking back over to us.

“Your boss is your soon-to-be mother-in-law?”

“Yes, it was a coincidence too, but she’s a nice lady.”

“Do your co-workers know?”

“Of course not. If they did, I don’t think any of them would really treat me the same.”

“As much as I love the three of you bonding, I have guests arriving to the extravaganza that is the Hollis Fourth of July party and I’m in need of assistance.” My dad says, clapping his hands together. “Now, seeing as Carmilla is down a hand, it is up to you two to help me out.”

“Never have I ever been more happy to be hurt.” Carmilla chimes. “I’ll be lounging poolside with a cooler next to me.”

“Yeah, yeah. Go watch the girls.” I say, waving her off playfully.

“I love you.” She whispers in my ear.

“I love you too.” I smile, kissing her quickly.

“You two really are so cute together, I can see it in the past few minutes of knowing you that you two are great together.”

“Except for when Carmilla leaves a giant mess in her path.”

“I haven’t been that messy, I’ve been better.”

“Yes you have, now go stake your claim before I find something one-handed for you to do.” I say, watching her get a certain look in her eyes.

“That can be arranged.” She whispers in my ear before making her way out to the pool. 

* * *

“Hey cupcake.” Carmilla slurs, walking over to me and sitting on my lap.

“You okay Carm?”

“I love you. I mean like I love you so much, I can’t wait to marry you.”

“I know, how about you switch to water?” I say, handing her the rest of my bottle.

“Not yet.” She pouts.

“I’m cutting you off after two more beers or drinks of any sort, so make sure you drink wisely.”

“Okay, okay.” She says, leaning in to kiss me deeply.

“Carm, I don’t need you making out with me like a horny teenager in front of my family and my dad’s friends.”

“Can I make out with you at home?”

“You can make out with me at home you dork.”

“Good.” She smiles, kissing me again before getting off of my lap. “You dad actually sent me over to tell you he’s doing fireworks soon.”

“Okay. Have you seen where Lily is? Last I checked she was under the tree with Alicia and cousins.”

“She’s by your dad.”

“Oh, no. She tries to convince him to let her shoot off a firework.” I say, getting up from the chair. “Sherman!” I shout, causing my dad to look over at me with a scared and confused expression on his face.

“You sounded just like your mother.”

“So that means it will be effective.” I say, storming over to him. “If you let Lily touch one of those, I swear I will kick your butt.”

“Come on mom.” Lily complains.

“No, you are not allowed to touch one of these until you’re eighteen. That way I don’t have to feel too guilty I you blow up your hand.”

“You sound like your mother.” My dad says with a sad smile.

“Well maybe that’s a good thing when you make the ridiculous choice in handing your granddaughter a firework.”

“Okay, okay.” He sighs. “You heard your mother, when you’re eighteen you’ll be more than welcome to risk blowing off a finger.”

“Good, now go back to sitting with Alicia.” I say, pointing under the oak tree where Alicia was sitting with the rest of the kids.

“Is it okay if Alicia comes home with us?”

“Has she spoken to her mom?”

“Yeah, her mom said if it was okay with you she could come over.”

“Then it’s fine, I don’t want any funny business though, so it’s open door policy.”

“That’s fine.” Lily smiles. I watch as she runs over to Alicia, kissing her on the cheek. I couldn’t help but smile at how happy Lily was.

“She really likes that girl, doesn’t she?” 

“She likes her a lot dad, I just don’t want her getting hurt by young love."

“I know, only time will tell.”

“I know.” I say quietly, turning to him and smiling.

“Now, I have to set off some explosives.”

“Who’s helping you?”

“Your uncle Jeff.”

“Oh lovely, at this rate I’d rather have Lily come back over here. How much has Jeff had to drink?”

“You didn’t hear? Jeff’s sick, he can’t drink anymore for several reasons.”

“Oh, well good that he stopped drinking, but bad that he’s sick.”

“Your father knows I’m healthier than a horse.” Jeff says, as he walks in on our conversation. “I just really had to stop drinking because I’m too old and I was at risk of losing my job. On the other hand, I see your side piece is about two sheets.”

“Don’t talk about my fiancée that way Jeff.”

“Oh, so you’re marrying another woman?”

“Come on Jeff, you know Laura is gay, leave her alone.” My dad defends me, getting between Jeff and me.

“I know baby brother, I just can’t believe she’s still in this phase of her life.”

“You know, I don’t care if she was gay, straight, or dating a fucking orange, as long as she is happy and thriving there is nothing more for me to ask of her. She is the top anchor at her station, she’s bound to end up traveling the world some day soon for her work, she is raising a polite young lady and just so happens to be in love with a wonderful woman who would do more for my daughter than anyone else would. So the next time you want to say something indifferent and offensive about my child, just remember where your children are. Let’s see, one’s in jail for beating his girlfriend and child, another one refuses to talk to you due to your ignorance, and the third is MIA for the past two years because, well no one knows why Damien isn’t talk to anyone…”

“He hates every part of this family and is currently trying to find a way to impeach our president.” I chimed in. “He talks to me on a semi regular basis, he’s going to school for politics so he can try rid the world of people like, well, you.”

“Okay, I’m sorry. I forget my place sometimes.” Jeff says, holding his hands up in defense. “I’m sorry about what I said about your fiancée.”

“You should just know that if she ever heard you say something like that about her or bad mouth me, or Lily in any way, you’re the one that should be scared, she would practically kill you.”

“Who am I killing?” Carmilla asks, walking up and wrapping her arm around my shoulder.

“No one sweetie.” I smile.

“Not today at least. Hello, I’m Carmilla Karnstein.” She says, extending her hand for Jeff to talk. “I’m assuming you’re the person I would be killing.” She whispers as she shakes his hand.

“It’s nice to meet you.”

“Yeah, I don’t know if it’s nice to meet you, something about you screams Trump supporter and I’m not a big fan of that.”

“Okay, time to get someone to bed before she does something silly.” I say, taking Carmilla by the hand and leading her into the house.

“I don’t like him.” She slurs and I sit her on the couch. “It’s nice and cool in here.”

“I know it is, the air-conditioned is on.” I say, handing her a bottle of water.

“Can we go home? I want to go to bed.” She whines.

“We’ll leave soon.” I say, running my fingers through her hair.

“Would you want to have a kid?” Carmilla asks quietly, resting her hand on my stomach. 

“Aren’t I too old?”

“Some women have kids, well in to their forties, and you’re only thirty-six…”

“Is that your way of telling me you want to raise a baby with me?”

“Yes, it is.” She says, smiling lazily as she rolls her head against the back of the couch.

“We’ll have to talk about this again when you aren’t drunk.”

“Okay, but you want to, don’t you?”

“We’ll see.” I smile, leaning in to kiss her softly. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” 

* * *

“Cupcake.” Carmilla whines as she falls into bed when we get home.

“What?”

“I want to make out with you.”

“No, Alicia is here and the last thing I need is you to get carried away while she’s here. It’s not appropriate.”

“Okay, fine. Can you at least help me get out of these clothes?”

“Of course, arms up.” I say, walking over and pulling her shirt over her head. I help her into a looser shirt before taking off her jeans. “I’m going to check on the girls and I’ll be right back.” I say, kissing her forehead.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.” I walk out of the room and across to Lily’s room to find Alicia sitting on Lily’s bed looking at her phone. “Where’s Lily?”

“She’s in the bathroom changing.” I turn and go towards the bathroom; I knock on the door lightly.

“Yeah?”

“Everything okay kiddo?”

“Mom?” Lily asks opening the door slightly.

“What’s wrong?”

“My stomach hurts.” She whines, letting me into the bathroom.

“What kind of hurt are you talking about?”

“Just bleh, I don’t know how to describe it. I just don’t feel good. And it’s weird, I was fine all day and now I just feel tired and disgusting.”

“I don’t know what to tell you, I think we should just see how you feel in the morning.” I say, running my fingers through her hair.

“Okay mom.” Lily smiles.

“Finish getting done, you have a pretty girl waiting for you.”

“I know, and you have Carmilla waiting for you.”

“I guarantee Carmilla is passed out right now.” I laugh. “I want to ask you about something.”

“Okay?”

“How would you feel if I had a baby?”

“We’d need a bigger house.” She says, furrowing her eyebrows. I look at her and laugh. 

“That’s your only concern?”

“Well, yeah. I don’t know what else to be concerned about other than that?”

“Okay.”

“But that means that if you do have a baby, they’ll have you and Carmilla to call mom and mama.”

“Yeah, what’s wrong with that?”

“I call Carmilla by her name, I don’t get to call her mom.” Lily sighs, looking down at her feet.

“We’ll see what happens over time, maybe you won’t want to call her mom? It might take away from the relationship you have with her.”

“I guess. I want to go back to Alicia, we’re going to watch a movie.”

“You girls can go into the living room if you want to watch on the big TV.”

“No, my room is fine.” She says, walking out of the bathroom. I follow her out of the bathroom and walk into my room to find Carmilla was actually awake.

“You’re up?”

“I didn’t want to go to sleep without you.” Carmilla smiles.

“Well I’m happy you waited.” I smile, walking over to the dresser to change into something comfortable.

“You’re so pretty.”

“Thank you Carm.”

“I can’t wait to marry you.”

“I can’t wait either.”

“Are you happy to marry me?” Carmilla asks as I climb into bed next to her.

“Of course I am.”

“You’re going to be Laura Karnstein or Laura Hollis-Karnstein. Either way, our baby is going to be Karnstein.”

“You really want a baby that bad?”

“Yeah, I feel like I got a second chance to have one meeting you.” She says, looking at me with sad eyes. “I didn’t get a chance to be a good mother, and now I think I have a chance to be a great mother.”

“We’ll see what happens.” I whisper, leaning in to kiss her softly. “I love you so much.”

“I love you too.”

 

-Carmilla POV-

I open my eyes and wince, the bright light streaming into the room from the curtain drawn windows making my headache worse. I sit up slowly and look over to see it was well after one in the afternoon. I slowly get out of bed and make my way to the kitchen to find Laura sitting at the kitchen table. “Good afternoon sleepy head.” She chimes, making me a cup of coffee and hanging me a few pills.

“Thanks cupcake.” I smile, kissing her quickly before taking the pills. “Where’s Lily?”

“In her room, Alicia’s parents were here to get her earlier and Lily decided to go lie down again, I think she’s…”

“She’s what?”

“I think she’s getting her period or something, she has all the symptoms, I just didn’t think it would be so soon.”

“Have you talked to her about it?”

“Oh yeah, you know it’s just casual Thursday conversation.”

“Laura, I’m serious. I know they go over it in school, but they aren’t sympathetic about it.”

“If she comes out of the bathroom making the announcement that she’s dying, then I’ll make it an issue. Until then we have other things to discuss.”

“Yeah, you think she’d want to know the news now?”

“I don’t see why not.” Laura smiles, kissing me quickly before walking towards Lily’s room. I take a deep breath before Lily walks into the kitchen, sitting at the table with Laura and I.

“Am I in trouble?”

“Of course not kiddo, we just have something to tell you.” I say, looking at Laura with a small smile.

“Okay.” Lily says, looking at me with the same hazel eyes that reminded me more and more of Laura’s every day.

“Your mother and I want to know how you would feel if, well, if I was your mom?”

“What do you mean? I didn’t know you could be my mom too…”

“Well, Danny had to sign a piece of paper to confirm that I too can be your mother.”

“So now you’re my mom?” Lily asks with a small smile.

“I mean, if you’d have me.” I tease.

“I’d like that, that’s pretty cool.” She smiles, getting up to hug me tightly. “So you’re my mom now? What do I call you?”

“You can still call me Carm if you want to, but if you decided to call me mama or whatever, that’s okay too. Whatever you’re comfortable with.”

“I think I’ll stick with Carm. But this is good news, now what mom has a baby we’ll be able to share the two of you in the right way.” Lily chimes, looking between Laura and I.

“Well, now that it’s settled, I’m assuming you’re going to look into having a baby?” I tease, looking at Laura. “I remember that conversation, I was drunk but I still remember.”

“I’ll make an appointment at the doctor and we’ll go talk to her.” Laura smiles.

“What about the house? We’re going to need a bigger one. I don’t want to share my room.” Lily complains.

“I think I can take care of that.” I smile, looking between the two women I get to call family.


	17. Chapter 17

-Carmilla POV-

“Where are we going?” Laura asks with a smile.

“The point in the blindfold is to be a surprise.”

“You know how I get anxious when it comes to surprises.”

“I know, but this one will be well worth it.”

“Is there a reason you didn’t bring Lily along?”

“I don’t want to get her hopes up if you don’t like it.”

“So it’s something for Lily too?” Laura chimes, turning to smile at me.

“Yes, now will you please stop talking?” I whisper against her hand before kissing the back of it. I let go of her hand and continue driving, turning down the right street. Laura reaches over; touching up my arm until she blindly finds my cheek, she leans over and kissing it softly.

“I love you.”

“I love you too cupcake.”

“I feel you slowing down.” Laura says, bouncing up and down in the seat. I smile, stopping at the curb and turning off the car.

“Now, before you go jumping out, I want you to wait. I’ll help you out.”

“Okay.” She whispers. I kiss her cheek before getting out of the car.

“Don’t touch the blindfold.” I warn as she gets out of the car. I take her hand in mine, leading the way. I take a deep breath before stopping and standing in front of Laura.

“Can I take it off now?” I smile, kissing her on the cheek before standing behind her.

“Keep your eyes closed.” I whisper in her ear as I undo the blindfold, I look to make sure her eyes are closed. “Ready? I don’t know if you’re ready.” I tease, kissing her cheek.

“Carm, I swear.”

“Open them.” I smile; she blinks a few times, letting her eyes adjust to the light.

“Is that?”

“It’s ours if you want it. I have the key so we can do a walk through if you want.” I chime, dangling a key in front of her face.

“Where did you get the key?”

“Will’s wife is in real estate. She said she could give me a good deal, if we want it.” I say, taking her hand and leading her towards the house. “It have four bedrooms, three bathrooms, one of those bathrooms is in our room. It has a big kitchen, living room and den. And the backyard is huge.” I smile, unlocking the door and leading her into the house. “There is enough room for a pool. There’s obviously, the two-car-garage, white picket fence, all the cliché you would want in a loving home.”

“All we need is the golden retriever.” Laura smiles, kissing me quickly. “Where does our room face?” I lead the way up the stairs and down the hall towards the back of the house.

“We get to over look the backyard.” I say, opening the door to the spacious room. “It looks so much bigger than it should due to the lack of furniture. But this is it. Lily has first pick of the other rooms, I would like to make one of them into a library/office, whatever room you want to make that out of the ones Lily doesn’t pick. Other than that, there isn’t much more to go over. There’s a basement with a washer and dryer, it’s finished too so Lily can always make it how she wants for when she has friends over.”

“I still have time on the lease, I don’t want to break it and be out some money.”

“How much longer?”

“About three or four months.”

“That gives us enough time to have the rooms painted and things like that. If you really like the house.”

“I really like the house.” She smiles, placing her hands on the back of my neck. I smile, wrapping my arms around her waist.

“So this is the house? I have a couple of more we can look at.”

“No, I like this one. It’s perfect; we’re close to the school and my dad’s.

“And Alicia is basically our neighbor, She’s a couple of blocks over.”

“Well that’s all Lily needs to know.” Laura laughs. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” I smile, kissing her softly. “I’ll let Natalie know we like this one.”

“You want to close on it with months to go?”

“Like I said, we can make some changes, for one I want our room painted, Lily will probably want her room painted. I don’t know about you but that brown color in the hallway is gross, and I hate the tile in our bathroom and the bathroom downstairs. The backsplash in the kitchen is ugly too.”

“You love the house, but hate everything about it?”

“It just needs a facelift.”

“Okay.” She smiles, kissing me again. I lead her around the house and show her the different things that need to be changed, a lot of them she agreed in and some things she decided needed a change too. “We can afford this?”

“I’m taking care of it, I don’t want you to worry about anything when it comes to this house, I don’t even want you worrying about changing a light bulb.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, I don’t want you to worry about anything at all.”

“How did I end up so lucky?”

“I don’t know. I’m just that awesome.” I tease, leaning in to kiss her again.

“Can we go sign the paperwork?”

“You don’t want to show Lily?”

“No, I know she’ll love it either way. We’ll show her when it’s ours, that way she can pick out what kind of paint she wants.”

“Okay.” I smile at the thought of the house being ours.

“I love you.”

“I love you too cupcake.” I smile, kissing her quickly. 

* * *

“Where are we going?” Lily complains, looking out the window. “Are we going to grandpa’s?”

“No, we aren’t going to grandpa’s.” Laura says, looking back at Laura. “We’re going to show you something and we walk to know what you think.”

“And you aren’t gong to tell me about it, are you?”

“Nope.” I smile, shaking my head.

“Why are we parking in this driveway?” She asks, furrowing her eyebrows and looking around.

“How would you feel if we told you this is where we’re going to live?” Laura asks, turning off the car and turning to face Lily as best as she could.

“Seriously?”

“Well, I mean, we didn’t sign paperwork all afternoon for nothing.” I chime, laughing as Lily runs out of the car and to the front door.

“Come on! I wanna see inside!” She calls out, pulling at the locked door. Laura and I get out of the car; Laura walks up behind Lily and unlocks the door. “Which room is mine?”

“You get first pick, the room at the end of the hall to the right is mine and Carmilla’s, and you get to pick from the other three.” Laura explains, watching Lily run up the stairs.

“Can I have this one that faces the front?” Lily calls out, handing over the railing.

“Whatever you want kiddo.” I smile, taking Laura’s hand in mine and walking into the kitchen. Laura and I stopped at the hardware store before picking up Lily from a friend’s house, knowing we were going to come back here, so after signing paperwork we figured we would get a jumpstart on the renovations that were to take place. “Blue or grey?” I ask, holding up the tile we picked out.

“I was planning on both, like make it a pattern, but I think the sheet tile that we picked out for the bathroom would look better in here. The variegated colors would be nicer in here don’t you think?”

“Yeah, I think so. We’ll use the blue tile in the bathroom down here and the grey in our room?”

“I think that would be alright.” Laura smiles, kissing my cheek.

“Will said he had no problem helping us out for the cost of pizza and beer.”

“I would feel bad not paying him though.”

“He owes me a few favors anyway, cupcake, besides I’ll buy everything he needs and end up tossing him some money anyway.” I shrug. “Do you want to update appliances? The washer and dryer downstairs are new, but I don’t know about you, I think this kitchen would like nicer with brand new stainless steel.”

“Carm, I don’t want you spending so much money.”

“And I told you not to worry about it. I have the money.”

“I know, but I feel bad that you won’t let me put any money up for anything, it makes me feel useless.”

“You’re not useless, I just don’t want you to feel like you should put money up for anything.”

“We’re a joint front Carmilla, if I want to pay for something you should let me.”

“I want to take care of you.”

“I don’t care.” She counters, crossing her arms over her chest. “You can take care of me and still give in to letting me do different things.”

“You’re right. You’re extremely right. I’m sorry Laura, if it will make you feel better you can pay will for helping us.”

“Now you’re just assigning me that because you don’t want me to be bad.”

“I don’t want you to feel obligated. I don’t want you to feel like you need to do something like that.”

“And I want an equal front, something Danny never gave me. She was the same way, she wanted to be the powerhouse, and she wanted to be the big shot. You’re making me feel you want to be that way.”

“I don’t mean to make you feel that way, I’m not intending for that to happen. I just don’t want you to think about paying for different things.”

“I don’t want you paying for everything.”

“You two should stop arguing.” Lily says, walking into the kitchen and over to the back door.

“We aren’t arguing.” I say.

“Yes you are, and just so you know, mom is always going to win an argument over money, she always like to help pay for things and doesn’t like to be told no.”

“Okay, okay. I’m sorry Laura.” I say, wrapping my arms around her and holding her tightly.

“You’re a pain in the ass.”

“But you still love me.”

“Of course.” She smiles, looking up and kissing me.

“When are we moving in?” Lily asks.

“In a couple of months, we’re going to redo a lot of things and I don’t want to loose money from breaking the lease early.” Laura explains.

“Okay. Can I paint my room any color I want?”

“Whatever you want.” Laura smiles.

“I want to paint it blue.”

“We’ll go to the hardware store and pick out paint after practice this week.” I say.

“Okay, Carm.” 

* * *

“Carmilla?” Laura asks, walking into the bedroom with a magazine in her hand.

“What’s up cupcake?”

“Do you like this bedroom set?” She asks, shoving the magazine in my face.

“It’s nice, but there’s no way I’m putting together a whole bedroom set from Ikea.”

“We can get Will to help.”

“If we do that, we may end up on the floor.”

“So then you’ll end up putting it together?”

“I hate you.” I tease.

“You love me more than you could ever know.”

“That’s true, but the thought of putting together furniture isn’t fun.”

“We can make it fun.” Laura chimes, running her fingers through my hair.

“There is no way it can be fun. The things that could go wrong outweigh the fun.”

“You’re a party pooper.”

“If you like it so much, we’ll pay extra for them to put it together.”

“Okay.” She smiles, leaning down to kiss me. “I love you.”

“I love you too”

“Who’s paying for the bedroom set?” She teases.

“You can, you like it and picked it out.”

“And Lily was looking through a magazine, I told her she can get whatever she wants for her room. She can also pick out furniture for the basement if she wanted.”

“As long as you two are happy, you can do whatever you want.”

“What about you? Don’t you want to be happy?”

“Seeing you and Lily happy is enough to keep me happy forever. All I live for is to see the two of you happy.” I smile, caressing Laura’s cheek. “I love you.”

“I know.” Laura smiles, kissing me again. “So, back to the topic of furniture, I told Lily if she wanted she can just use the living room furniture we have now as the basement furniture.”

“There’s also my furniture I put in storage before moving in here, she can look through that and pick what she wants.”

“Wait, did you put your bedroom set in storage?”

“I did, why?”

“I want it, I loved that four-post bed and the dresser you had.”

“It’s an armoire.”

“Whatever, I loved it. Fuck Ikea, I want that instead in our room, what’s wrong?”

“I bought that with Alexis, she never liked it and that’s the only reason I kept it.”

“And I like it, I don’t care who you bought it with. The couch I bought with Danny, and the kitchen table. Does that really matter? As long as you want to put it to use again…”

“Whenever you want to, we’ll get it out of storage. I just would like a new mattress, I hate this lumpy thing.” I say, bouncing up and down.

“It was cheap, and I needed a bed, I didn’t plan on keeping this.”

“Good, I want a memory foam bed.”

“They have no bounce to them.”

“So?”

“I like the bounce.” Laura smiles shyly. “But we’ll shop around.”

“That’s all I ask.”

“Now, the next question at hand.”

“Whose hand? Yours?”

“Of course.” Laura chimes. “If we really want to have a baby, do you think we should be proactive and plan now? Or should we wait?”

“The real question lies on when you want to start.”

“Soon, maybe before we get married.”

“We can always elope for the legality of it all, and then we can have the ceremony when it’s good for us. If you want to do that.”

“I think that’s a good idea. Now the other question, if I can’t conceive or something happens and the doctor says we shouldn’t go through with it, do you want to adopt?”

“I want to raise a child with you, whether it’s a baby we have together or a baby we adopt together, as long as it’s the two of us and a child, it doesn’t matter.”

“I can’t wait to raise a kid with you from the beginning. I mean, I feel like you’re helping me raise Lily in more ways than one already.”

“I know. But the thought of seeing a kid learn how to walk, and talk. Even watching them learn how to read, and learn in general, it’s something I can’t wait to experience and I get to thank you for giving me that chance again.”

“You’re a sap.” Laura teases, leaning in to kiss me softly. “Are we going to go on a honeymoon?”

“Is that your way of asking me to take you on vacation somewhere?”

“I mean.”

“Where do you want to go?”

“Let’s go somewhere warm in the winter.”

“Okay. We’ll go somewhere like Bora Bora.”

“You can afford to take me to Bora Bora?”

“I can take you anywhere in the world. If you want to go on one of the science missions about penguins in Antarctica, I can take you there, if you wanted to rent a yacht and sail the Mediterranean we could do that. I get enough from my mother that we never have to worry, the money I make at work is just for fun and I love my job, other than that, we don’t have to have a financial problem. I want you to understand that.” I say, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. “I never want you to worry about anything.”

“Okay.” Laura whispers, leaning in to kiss me softly.


	18. Chapter 18

-Carmilla POV-

  
I walk through the front door to the faint smell of cookies coming from the kitchen. I smile at the thought of this scent being a constant aspect of having a house with Laura. I walk into the kitchen to find her bobbing her head to the music that was playing as she made a fresh batch of cookies. “Hey.” I smile, walking over and kissing her.

“Hey you. How was work?”

“Good, annoying. I don’t like the group of kids I have this year.”

“You didn’t like them last year.” Laura smiles. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m alright. I’m tired.” I pout, resting my forehead against the side of her head. “How are you?” I ask, placing my hand on her swollen belly.

“Nauseous.”

“And homemade cookies are going to make that better?”

“Of course.” Laura smiles.

“I see, where’s Lily?” 

“She had to stay after for practice today.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot. When do we have to get her?”

“I think Alicia’s parents are going to bring her home.”

“Okay.” I say, kissing the side of Laura’s head. “I’m going to go change.” I come back downstairs to see Laura sitting in the den with a plate of cookies on her belly and her feet on the coffee table as she watches TV. I walk in and plop down next to her and taking a cookie from the plate. “I’ll laugh if the kid ends up hating cookies.”

“Don’t say such a thing. I’d have to disinherit them.”

“The sad thing is I know you’re serious about that.” I chime.

“You know me so well.” She smiles, leaning over and kissing me on the cheek.

“Do you think we’ll have a boy or a girl?”

“I think we’re going to have a happy and healthy baby who we will not inflict normativity on.”

“How twenty-first century of you.” I tease.

“I’d like to have another girl though.”

“I think I’d like that too.” I smile. “What would you want to name her?” 

“I don’t know.”

“How did you decide to name, Lily?”

“Funny enough, I didn’t have a name for her right away when she was born. It wasn’t until my mom brought me a bouquet of Lilies where I then gave her the name.”

“Well, I don’t want the same kind of story. Lily is unique and therefore her story suits her. I want this little shit to be named when we find out what they are.”

“I thought that was going to sound dickier than it did.”

“You have the tendency to underestimate my dickiness.” I smile, kissing Laura’s cheek.

“You have the tendency to underestimate your own dickiness.”

“That is also true.”

“I think if they are a boy, I like a traditional name, like Michael, or David, something like that.”

“Okay, and if they are a girl, I want to name her Katharine. Seeing as we want to go traditional.”

“Katharine Karnstein. Sounds old time-y.”

“Well, it was my grandmother’s name. I loved my grandmother very much.”

“Katharine Pauline Karnstein. Pauline was my grandmother’s name, and I like the sound of it.” Laura smiles, patting her little bump. “What about you? Do you like the sound of that?”

“Do they even have ears yet?”

“I don’t think so, I dug up one of the baby books I had when I was pregnant with, Lily. I think it’s a bit outdated though, so I was just trying to Google different things. You know there’s a fifteen percent change that we could have an – ”

“Don’t finish that sentence, I know what you’re going to say and I don’t want to think about that possibility.” I say, placing my hand on her bump. “We just want them happy and healthy.”

“I know. You want to know something?”

“Always.”

“The one good thing about being pregnant, I get to eat whatever I want and not feel guilty.” Laura smiles. 

“Which translates to…”

“I want something salty. Like French fries or something.”

“So I have to go get you them?”

“If you love me, you will.”

“I guess I don’t love you then.” I tease, crossing my arms over my chest.

“You’re such a meanie.”

“You know I’ll get them for you.” I smile, leaning over and kissing her cheek. “I’ll be back in a little while.”

“Be careful.” She says, kissing quickly.

“I will.”

 

-Laura POV-

“Laura?” I hear my dad call out. I get up from the couch and meet him by the front door.

“What are you doing here?”

“Checking in on my pregnant daughter.” He smiles, kissing me on the cheek. “Did you find out if I’m getting a grandson yet?”

“Not until next week.”

“Well as soon as you know.”

“You will be the first one we call, don’t worry.” I smile, leading the way into the kitchen. “Do you want anything?”

“No thanks, where’s Carmilla?”

“I had a craving, she went out to fulfill it, but it passed and I know that she’s already gotten it so there’s no point in telling her to turn around…”

“If you’re anything like your mother, you’ll get the craving back as soon as Carmilla walks through the door. I would run out to get her something and come back only for her to make a face that she didn’t want it anymore, then I would find her eating it soon after.” He laughs.

“I do that to Carmilla a lot, she’s so happy when I actually get excited when she get home, when I hesitate she gets annoyed.”

“Well, I think she’s walking in now, so don’t hesitate.” He says, looking down the hall towards the door. Sure enough Carmilla was walking into the kitchen moments later.

“Hey Sherman, how are you?”

“I’m good Carmilla. How are you?”

“Good, here cupcake.” She says, placing a bag on the counter.

“Thanks Carm.” I smile, kissing her on the cheek, as soon as I open the bag I felt relieved that the craving for fries hit me right away.

“And here I thought you weren’t going to eat them.” Carmilla sighs relief.

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay cupcake.”

“It’s nice to see you’re taking care of my daughter and grandson.”

“You want a grandson?” Carmilla asks with a chuckle.

“If nature will allow it.” He smiles.

“You’ll be the first person we call, Sherman.”

“I better be.” 

* * *

“Carm, you need to calm down, I can feel you vibrating.” I say as I lay on the exam table with Carmilla sitting close beside me.

“I’m sorry, I’m nervous. It’s been a really long time since I did this, and I forgot how nerve wracking it could be.”

“Everything is going to be okay.”

“I know, but still. What if we get bad news?”

“We won’t. I know that we won’t.” I say, taking her hand in mine. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” She smiles, kissing me quickly as we hear someone enter the room.

“Sorry to interrupt.” The woman chimes with a polite smile. “I’m Dr. Cochrane. You must be Carmilla, you weren’t here at Laura’s last visit.”

“Yeah, I had to work. Nice to meet you, Laura said she had to get a different doctor, the original one decided to retire soon after taking Laura as a patient.” Carmilla says, rolling her eyes.

“Yeah, he decided he didn’t want to do it anymore. Any way, your partner is in good hands.” Dr. Cochrane smiles. “Are you ready to see what’s going on?”

“Yes ma’am.” I smile, lifting my shirt.

“Alright. Let’s see what’s going on.” She says as she squeezed gel onto my abdomen before running the sensor over it. “So.” She adds, turning on the screen to reveal the fuzzy image. “Here’s your little one.”

“That’s our baby, cupcake.” Carmilla chimes, kissing the side of my head.

“And here’s the other little one.”

“Wait, two?” Carmilla asks, her eyes bulging out of her head.

“Yep, congratulations, you’re having twins.”

“Do you know if they’re boys or…?” I ask, watching the doctor flip a switch, the room filling with a swooshing sound.

“By the sound of it, I’d say you’re having two boys. Congratulations yet again.”

“Thank you.” I smile, wiping the goo off of my stomach.

“Make an appointment for two months, and if you ever have any questions you can call the office to get a hold of me.” Cochrane smiles as she prints out the sonogram.

“Thanks.” Carmilla smiles widely. “Your dad is going to be happy.”

“I don’t know how happy Lily is going to be about having two little brothers on the way.”

“That are going to gang up on her when the time comes, I can feel it already.” Carmilla laughs.

“By the time that happens, Lily will be ready to go to college, that’s the only advantage she has when it comes to having two little brothers.”

“How are we going to tell her?” Carmilla asks, leading the way out of the examination room.

“I don’t want to dick her around, I think we should just be blunt about it. She knows we were going today to find out what we were having.”

“So she’s basically going to bombard us as soon as she gets home?”

“Unless Alicia is with her. Or they’ll both bombard us.”

“We’ll just have to wait and see.” Carmilla smiles before kissing me quickly as we reach the reception desk. After scheduling the next appointment, Carmilla and I ran to the store quick to order another crib to match the one we have at home already, as week as another bedding set, Carmilla hated the idea of twins having the same exact things and that they should be treated as individuals, so we got a set different from the ones we have home. Carm and I were sat on the couch watching TV while she rubbed my feet, after a sufficient amount of whining about it.

“Hi mom!” Lily shouts as she walks through the door, I hear as she drops her bag before walking into the room with a smile on her face.

“Where’s your shadow?” Carmilla asks.

“Alicia is grounded because she failed a test, so I can only see her at school for the next week.” Lily sighs, flopping down on the chair. “What happened today?”

“Well, we do have some news, it’s good so don’t get worried.” I smile, looking at Carm to essentially give her the honors of making the announcement.

“So, you’re mother is going to have twins.” Carmilla smiles, watching Lily’s face light up.

“Really?”

“Yes ma’am.” I smile.

“That’s neat.”

“There is some other news.” Carmilla says.

“You’re going to have two little brothers.” I say, watching as Lily’s smile fails to falter.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing. I don’t care, I mean yeah they may be annoying, I know Alicia’s little brother is super annoying, but it’s okay cause you wave a video game in his face and he leaves us alone. I’m just happy I’m going to have siblings.”

“Well, you took that news better than we thought. Your mother didn’t know how you would take it and was worried you were going to freak out.” Carmilla explains.

“I’ll still love them no matter what, and will help take care of them, until I’m eighteen and going off to school on a soccer scholarship with the hopes of getting into the majors, but that’s a different conversation.” Lily says as she waves her hand.

“Well aren’t you ambitious.” Carmilla says, cocking an eyebrow.

“I’m surprised you didn’t now that. She wants to make it in the majors one day so she can have a big house and sponsorships. She just better remember the little people.”

“Please, you know just as much as I do that you’re going to be the mom holding up the signs and showing everyone my first ever pictures of me playing when I was four.”

“That’s true, and Carmilla is going to be just the same.” I smile.

“You know it. Face paint, and everything kiddo, and we’ll drag the little beasts to support you too.”

“We’re going to be the obnoxious family.” I laugh.

“That we are, and Alicia will of course be there if we stay friends and all that.”

“Do you think you’ll be with her for a while, Lil?” Carmilla asks.

“I don’t know.” Lily shrugs. “It will be whatever it will be. We kinda talked about it but not really.”

“Well, whatever you decide to do, we’ll support you no matter what.” I say, watching Lily smile.

“Thanks mom. Now even though this is exciting news, I have homework to do and some studying to get done.”

“Okay, we’re going to do take out for dinner, any requests?”

“Italian, I want pasta.” Lily says as she walks out of the room.

“Anything else?” Carmilla asks.

“Garlic bread. I don’t care if you hate it, and I never will. I want all the garlic bread they will allow me to have!” She calls out as she walks up the stairs.

“She’s such a nut.” Carmilla smiles as she shakes her head.

“And you can’t help but love her.”

“Nope, I can’t. She’s probably one of my favorite people, if not my favorite over all.”

“Well then, I see where I stand.”

“Please, cupcake, there’s a special place for you that no one will ever occupy.” Carmilla chimes, leaning over to kiss me.

“Good.”

“The only ones fighting for the Lily spot are going to be Baby A and Baby B.” She teases, kissing me again. “Hear that. You have a lot of competition out here boys, you better be rock stars so your sister doesn’t outshine you forever.”

“You’re the shittiest pep talker.” I tease.

“That’s why I never give my students a pep talk. I find them on YouTube so they can get a professionals input.”

“Teacher of the year.” I say, rolling my eyes before getting up from the couch.

“You know it. If there were a poll, I would get the highest approval rating. All f my students love me, even ones I had years ago still email me telling me how I was the best teacher they ever had. So…” Carmilla shrugs cockily.

“Whatever you say, sweetie.”

“Hey, did you call your dad?”

“I did as soon as we got home, he started to cry and was so excited he was getting two grandsons. He’s going to come over tomorrow to take me shopping for some extra things.”

“Well isn’t he just father of the year.”

“He’s happy, he’s getting boys he never had the chance to have. He’s going to be a good grandpa. Are you going to tell your mom?”

“Yeah, but not just yet. I’m going to give it a couple of days. I want the take in the excitement before she gets over excited and ruins it for me.”

“Well my dad’s excitement may ruin it for you, just so you know.”

“Well I’ll be at work while he’s being over excited.”

“That is true.” I smile. “I’m so happy, Carm.” I say quietly as she walks up to me.

“Me too cupcake.” She whispers as she leans in to kiss me.


	19. Chapter 19

-Laura POV-

“Mom?” Lily asks, walking into the room.

“Yes sweetie?” I look up to see tears in her eyes. “What happened?”

“Alicia broke up with me.”

“Come here.” I say, patting the bed. She walks over and curls up into my side. I wrap my arm around her and kiss the top of her head. “It’s okay, sweetie. You’re going to have a lot of heartbreak. The first one always hurts the most.”

“I loved her mom, I don’t know what I did.”

“It’s not your fault, Lily. You’re both young, there are a lot of things that could have happened, but no matter what, it isn’t your fault.”

“She’s a bitch.”

“You don’t mean that."

“Yes, I do. I never want to talk to her or see her stupid face ever again.”

“Who has a stupid face?” Carmilla asks, walking into the room

“Alicia, she broke up with me.”

“I’m sorry about that kiddo.” Carmilla says, walking over and sitting beside Lily, squishing her in between us. “The first love is always the hardest to lose, I know the feeling.”

“Who was your first love?” Lily asks.

“Her name was Paige, she was amazing, we were eighteen, I met her my first year of college. She was my first everything.” Carmilla sighs. “We did some things and just before our year anniversary, she left a note on my bed in my dorm and said she couldn’t do it anymore and left. I soon found out she was cheating on me with my roommate.”

“That’s shitty.” Lily says. “What about you mom?”

“Your mother was my first love, believe it or not. And when she decided to get a divorce it left me very heartbroken. You were young you may not remember everything. So, I was very upset after the divorce was finalized, and threw myself into my work only to meet Carmilla just when I was ready to be alone forever.” I say the last part a bit melodramatically.

“I think what your mother is trying to get at is the fact that, when the time comes, you’ll be face to face with the right person. You’re young anyway, you still have the rest of your school years and college to find someone, and no one stays together since they’re fourteen.”

“I guess you’re right.” Lily says, wiping her eyes.

“I know I’m right, kiddo. Now, the post breakup usually involves snacking for a week. What would you like?”

“Ben and Jerry’s ice cream.”

“Ah, the two men a girl will always love without worrying about being heartbroken by them.” I chime, causing Lily to laugh a bit.

“I’ll go downstairs and get you some.” Carmilla smiles before kissing the top of Lily’s head.

“We have Ben and Jerry’s and you didn’t even tell me?”

“It’s for emergencies.” Carmilla smirks.

“I want to meet someone who treats me the way Carmilla treats you.”

“That person will come around when it’s time to. And who knows, maybe you’ll be the one treating them the way Carmilla treats me.” I smile, brushing the hair out of her face.

“I just want to be as happy as you two are.”

“You’re still a kid, you have time.”

“I know. When are the babies going to be born?” She asks, tapping my stomach.

“In a few more weeks, don’t rush them.”

“Did you and Carm pick names yet?”

“I think we settled on Trevor and Michael. Then again we could change it again.” I shrug.

“I like those names though, what did grandpa say?”

“He liked them, he only requested the one of them have the middle name Sherman, he really didn’t care for the first names.”

“Grandpa’s funny.”

“I know.” I roll my eyes, looking up to see Carmilla walking in with three pints of ice cream in her hand.

“We get to each have our own?” Lily asks wide-eyed as Carmilla hands her a pint of Half-Baked flavor.

“A broken heart is the exception, it’s okay. It helps kiddo.” Carmilla chimes, handing me a pint of Chunky Monkey.

“Thanks Carm.” I smiles, leaning up to kiss her.

“Anything for you, both of you.”

“Are you two going to have a big wedding ever? I know you did the license so it’s legal, but are we going to have the big party?” Lily asks with a mouthful of ice cream.

“Maybe, we’ll probably wait until the babies are born.” Carmilla shrugs.

“When we know, you’ll know sweetie.” I say, kissing Lily on the side of her head.

“I know mom.” Lily smiles, shoveling another spoon of ice cream into her mouth. “If being aloud to eat a pint of ice cream by myself is the trade off for being dumped, it’s an okay trade off.”

“Just try not to make a habit of being let down.” Carmilla says.

“I know, I know. I don’t like being hurt.” Lily says as she holds back tears.

“No one likes being hurt, sweetie.” I say, holding her closer.

“I really hate Alicia.”

“Everything will be okay, don’t worry.” Carmilla says, wrapping her arms around Lily. “Before you know it, you’ll have two brothers to be worrying about more so than Alicia.”

“You’re right. Mom is going to have the babies any minute.”

“They’re going to be coming any second if she doesn’t cool it with the sugar. Cupcake, you need to calm down with the ice cream.” Carmilla says, reaching over and taking the pint away from me.

“I finished it.” I chime, licking the spoon. “You’re too late.”

“You’re going to complain of a stomach ache later. I know it.”

“Yeah, yeah. Then you’ll rub my back and I’ll feel better.”

“You’re whipped.” Lily chimes, as she looks down at her ice cream.”

“What did you just say to me, kid?” Carmilla asks, cocking an eyebrow.

“You, Carmilla Karnstein, are whipped.”

“I mean, she isn’t wrong.” I shrug.

“Yeah, I can’t argue with you, kiddo.” Carmilla smiles. “The two of you have me whipped and soon it will be the four of you.”

“This is getting weird now, I’ll be in my room.” Lily says, getting out of bed. “This is mine, it’s going back in the freezer, don’t eat it.”

“I won’t, I promise.” I smile as she walks out of the room. “I hope she’ll be okay.”

“She will be, Lily will be gawking over someone else before we know it.”

“But I hate that Alicia hurt her.”

“I do too.”

“Don’t intimidate her or anything like that if you see her in school, just leave it alone.”

“But I have to know why she left Lily.”

“Carmilla, please.”

“Okay, okay. I won’t do anything. I promise.” She says, leaning over to kiss the side of my head. “I love you cupcake, I love Lily too and I just want what’s best for her.”

“You and me both.” I smile, kissing her softly. “I love you.”

“I love you always.”

 

-Carmilla POV-

“Carm, wake up.” Laura says as she shakes me awake.

“Ten more minutes.” I mumble, turning on my side to wrap my arms around her. “Cupcake, why are you wet?”

“My water broke.” She hisses.

“Really?” I ask, jolting awake and rushing over to put some pants on.

“Carm, I know it’s going to take a lot of effort, but can you please stay calm, it will help me.”

“Of course, I’m sorry. What do you want?”

“My shoes, call my dad to come here until Lily wakes up. I don’t want to drag her out of bed.”

“No problem.” I say, reaching for my phone and calling Sherman. Before we could reach the bottom of the stairs, Sherman was rushing into the house.

“Please don’t wake Lily up, it’s nearly four in the morning, she needs to sleep. When she wakes up, tell her she doesn’t have to go to school if she doesn’t want to, but take her to the hospital if she stays home.” Laura explains as I help her put her coat on.

“No problem, sweetie. Get there safe, keep me updated Carmilla.”

“No problem, Sherman.” I smile.

“Okay, go have my grandsons.” He chimes as we walk out of the house.

* * *

“I swear to God, Carmilla, if you don’t stop clicking your gum I’m going to punch you.”

“I’m sorry.” I say, walking over to the garbage and spitting it out.

“I just want these kids out of me already!”

“You want a natural birth and you have to wait until you’re dilated enough.”

“Can the doctor bring me that shot then?” She whines.

“You already had one.” I sigh, walking over and brushing the hair off of her sweaty forehead. “It will be okay, I promise. Before you know it, we’ll have our sons.”

“If I don’t pass out from this pain.”

“Come on cupcake, everything will be okay, do the breathing exercises.”

“Fuck the breathing exercises!”

“Sounds like the mother-to-be is in distress.” The doctor chimes, walking into the room and sitting at the foot of Laura’s bed. He lifts up the sheet and looks quickly. “Are you ready?”

“For what?”

“To meet your boys?” He chimes, standing up and pushing a button on the bed. “Move her to delivery please, and have her partner chance into scrubs.”

“Thank Christ!” Laura groans. After about an hour, Laura and I were back in her hospital room holding our twins. “They’re so cute.”

“I know, I love you so much.” I say, leaning over to kiss her cheek. “Are we sticking with the same names we discussed?”

“No, I changed my mind.”

“What are we going to name them then?”

“Thomas Sherman, and Aiden James.”

“I like it. Aiden James is going to be called AJ, just so you’re aware.” I chime, kissing the baby’s forehead. “You can be AJ.”

“And you are Thomas Sherman.” Laura smiles, kissing Thomas on his head. “Do you think they’re truly identical?”

“We’ll have to wait until they start to get older to tell, I mean right now they look extremely identical, but time will tell.”

“I hope I’ll be a good mom to them.”

“I should be saying that, cupcake. You’re going to be a wonderful mother, I have no idea what I’m doing.”

“I’ll help you be the best you can be. I promise.” Laura says as she leans over to kiss me softly before AJ started to cry. “He may be hungry.” She says as a nurse walks into the room.

“Hello, it seems like perfect timing, do you want help feeding him?”

“I think I got it.” Laura smiles, putting Thomas in the little plastic basinet before taking AJ from me. She opens up the front of her gown and starts feeding AJ, I try not to gawk at her breasts, seeing as they have gotten bigger over the months. “Carm.”

“Sorry.” I say, shaking my head a bit as Laura smirks at me.

“He seems to be taking to it quite nicely, when it’s time to feed the other boy I’ll come back, I advise using one breast per child, obviously, and making sure to bottle as much as you can if you don’t plan on using formula.” The nurse advises. “I’ll be back in a little bit.” She says with a polite smile before leaving the room.

“Which responsibilities do you want to assume first, burping or diaper changing?” Laura asks with a smile.

“I’ll do both if it will make you happy?”

“Of course it will.” She chimes, kissing my cheek before looking down at AJ.

“Is that my baby brother?” Lily asks with a big smile as she walking into the room with two stuffed animals in her hands.

“Yes, this is AJ and that is Thomas.” Laura smiles pointing out which is which.

“Why is his name AJ?”

“His first name is Aiden and his middle name is James, Carmilla deemed him AJ.”

“It’s cute.” Lily smiles, placing a small stuffed lion in his bassinet. “And this is Thomas Sherman I’m assuming?”

“You’re correct.” I smile, watching her look down at the sleeping baby, placing a small stuffed elephant at his feet.

“Can I hold one?”

“Sure, just after I’m done feeding AJ and Carmilla burps him, you can hold him.”

“Okay.”

“Where’s Grandpa?”

“He’s coming, he was just parking the car, he told me to come up here and he’ll be up soon.”

“Are those my grandsons?” Sherman asks with a big smile as he walks into the room, causing Thomas to stir a bit and start to cry. “Oh, I’m sorry kiddo.” He says in a hushed tone as he picks up Thomas.

“Good job, Sherman, you made your namesake cry.”

“This is little Sherman?” He asks with a wide smile.

“That’s Thomas Sherman, and this is Aiden James.”

“Or AJ as I’ll be calling him.” I chime, taking AJ to burp him. Once he burps, without spitting up on me, which was a success, I look at Lily to see her shaking with excitement. “Oh, you want to hold him?”

“Please.” She chimes.

“Sit in the other chair first, then you can hold him. You’ve never held a newborn baby before, Lily. Be careful and support his head.” Laura says, watching her daughter carefully. I get up and hand off AJ, helping to make sure Lily had a good hold on him before letting go. “Hold his head with one hand, and cradle him against you.” Laura directs and Lily does as she told, making sure she moves carefully.

“Hello baby brother.” Lily coos, looking at the baby with awe. “You look like me. Which means, Tommy, looks like me so you’re both pretty good looking kids.”

“I’d like to hope that it’s partially my doing.” Laura pouts as she begins to feed Thomas.

“Yeah I guess so.” Lily shrugs. She begins to get struggle when AJ starts to cry and wiggle around in her arms. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what I did will you take him, Carm?”

“Of course, babies just get fussy sometimes.” I say, taking AJ from her arms.

“Hand him over.” Sherman says, walking over to take the newborn from me. “Hello little guy. Even though you’re out numbered at home, you and your brother can always come hang out with grandpa.” He whispers, kissing AJ on his forehead. “There we go, the grandpa touch.” Sherman chimes as AJ stops crying.

“You’re officially on call if we are having a hard time.” Laura says, moving to burp Tommy.

“No problem, sweetheart. You know I’ll be there no matter what.” Sherman smiles.


	20. Chapter 20

-Carmilla POV-

“Call your dad!”

“No! I don’t want to call him for every little thing!” Laura calls out as the boys cry loudly.

“Then I’ll call him.”

“Come on, there’s two of us, why can’t we handle the two babies?”

“Because everything we’ve done hasn’t worked, we fed them, changed them, burped them, and rocked them. Nothing. Is. Happening.”

“Fine! I’ll call him. Just stay here with them.”

“Where else would I go?” I ask, trying not to get annoyed.

“I swear I’m getting sick of your attitude.”

“You’re getting sick of my attitude? You’re always so cranky now.”

“Oh let’s see why I’m just so cranky, I have to wake up at all hours of the night because the boys are on separate feeding schedules for some reason, it hurts like hell when I nurse them.”

“Yeah, and I’m up with you to help, so don’t even start with me, cupcake.” I say, watching her face change a bit, something behind her eyes went from frustration to adoration.

“I’m sorry, Carmilla.” She says quietly, walking over and resting her head on my chest.

“I’m sorry too.” I say, kissing the top of her head. “It’s just overwhelming for both of us and I feel like if we call your dad it will be an extra set of hands and eyes. Maybe then you can catch up on some sleep.”

“I know Carm, I’ll call him.”

“I love you Laura, I don’t want you getting run down and exhausted.”

“I know.”

“Call your dad.”

“I’m going.” She smiles, kissing my cheek before leaving the room. Not too much longer Sherman was walking through the door, his heavy footsteps made their way upstairs and into the nursery.

“What did you do, fly here?” I ask as I bounce AJ while Laura holds Tommy.

“Laura didn’t tell you? I was lucky enough to get one of the first flying cars.” He says sarcastically. “What’s going on?”

“They wouldn’t stop crying before and it was overwhelming. Can I ask you a big favor?” Laura asks.

“Whatever you need sweetie.” Sherman smiles.

“Can you clean the kitchen? There are dishes in the dishwasher that are clean and the ones in the sink are dirty, it looks like a warzone.”

“Say no more, I’ll give the house a once over, do you need laundry done?”

“The baby laundry needs to get done, make sure you used the detergent in the yellow bottle.”

“I know, I know. I took care of you once; your mother always washed your clothes with the baby soap. Don’t worry.” He smiles, kissing Laura on the cheek.

“Thanks dad.” She sighs as Sherman leaves the room. Laura turns to me, smiling sadly.

“What’s wrong?”

“I just want to sleep, if I put him down, he’s going to wake up.” Laura says as she fights back tears.

“Hey, hey. Put him in the swing and give him a pacifier.”

“What if it doesn’t work?”

“He has to get used to not always having you to cling to, he’s nearly a month old”

“Okay, okay.” She sighs, doing as I told her to do. Tommy cries for a moment before falling right back to sleep when the swing starts moving. “I’m going to lie down.” She says, kissing me quickly.

“I’m going to join you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I could use a nap too.” I say, putting AJ in his swing. I turn on the baby monitor and take the other end into our room, placing it on the nightstand. “Come on.” I say, climbing into bed. Laura follows, curling up against me. “Whenever we need to catch up, we’re calling your dad.”

“Okay.” She mumbles against my chest.

“Is Danny bringing Lily home?” I ask, playing with her hair.

“Yes, tomorrow night, I think she’s keeping Lily for dinner.”

“Okay.” I whisper, kissing her forehead. I’m woken up by the faint sound of crying. I open my eyes to see Laura was still asleep; I carefully remove myself from her hold being sure not to wake her.

“What’s wrong?” She mumbles, sitting up slowly.

“Don’t worry about it, lay back down.”

“No, no. What’s happening?”

“One of the boys is crying.”

“Who?”

“I have to find out.”

“I’ll go.”

“No, stay.” I say as I start walking across to the nursery to see that AJ was crying while Tommy was fast asleep. “Come on little one, before you wake your brother.” I say, taking him out of the swing. “Sorry to say this, but you stink, kiddo.”

“Of course he does, he needs to be changed.” Laura yawns, walking into the room and taking him from me to change his diaper.

“I could do it.”

“You never put the cream on, or you don’t put enough. Then he gets a rash and is irritable.”

“You’re an amazing mother.”

“So are you.”

“But you’re better.” I smile, wrapping my arms around her from behind as she puts AJ on the changing table.

“Are you going to hold me while I change our son?”

“Maybe.” I chime, kissing her cheek. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” She smiles, turning to kiss me softly. 

* * *

“Come on AJ, say it.” Laura chimes as I walk into the living room to see AJ and Tommy sitting on the floor in front of Laura, both boys looking at her with smiles on their faces.

“Ma.” AJ mumbles, smiling at his accomplishment.

“Good job.” She smiles, clapping her hands and kissing him on the cheek. “Okay your turn, Tommy.” He looks at her with puzzlement in his eyes. He smiles when he sees e standing in the entry way as he begins struggling to stand up on his little legs, gaining his balance and walking over towards me.

“Well aren’t you growing up fast?” I chime, kneeling down and holding my arms out to the one-year-old. He giggles as he wraps his little arms around my neck as I pick him up and kiss his cheek.

“Ma.” Tommy says, hitting my cheek.

“That’s right, I am your ma. And over there is mommy.” I say, pointing to Laura.

“Ma-me.” He smiles.

“Good job, Tommy.” Laura smiles, getting up and walking over to kiss him on the cheek. “Mommy loves you.”

“Mommy.” He says, looking at Laura. “Ma.” He says, looking at me.”

“We’ve figured out the smarter twin.” I chime, kissing Laura on the cheek.

“Start applying to the Ivy Leagues.” Laura says sarcastically.

“I will, I’ll get in touch with them all.”

“Help me put the boys down for a nap.” She says, patting my shoulder. “I want to talk to you.”

“Uh-oh. I’m in trouble.” I whisper, kissing Tommy’s cheek. After we get the boys settled in their room, Laura takes me by the hand and leads me back into the living room. “What did you want to talk about, oh wonderful love of mine?” I ask as we sit down on the couch.

“Why haven’t we had sex in weeks?”

“That’s really what you wanted to talk about?”

“Yes, lesbian bed death is a thing, and I never thought we would be the type to fall victim to it.”

“Cupcake.” I smile, pulling her closer to me. “We have one-year-old twin boys, I have to deal with bratty teenagers for eight hours a day, and we have a teenager we have to worry about. I don’t love you any less, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“No, I thought it was cause I can’t lose this fucking baby weight.” She complains, patting her belly.

“You honestly believe I would pass up having sex with you, due to the fact that you can’t lose, what, six pounds or so?”

“Ten, actually.” She pouts.

“I love you so much, it doesn’t matter how you look.”

“Well, I’ll just start to let myself go.”

“I’ll still love you.” I say, leaning over to kiss her softly. “I’ll always love you.” I kiss her again and again. She begins to push me so I was on my back, as things began to get heated.

“Ew!” Lily shrieks. Laura looks up and I look over to see Lily covering her eyes while someone stands beside her.

“Alicia?” I ask, sitting up. “What are you doing here?”

“Lily invited me over, she wanted to talk.”

“Lily, you can uncover your eyes.” Laura says as she stands up. “So, Alicia, long time no see, you seem so grown up.”

“T-thanks?”

“We’re going upstairs.” Lily says, taking Alicia by the arm.

“Your brothers are sleeping, be thoughtful.” I say.

“Okay, oh is it okay for her to stay for dinner?”

“Did you ask your parents?”

“They don’t care.” Alicia says.

“You can stay.” Laura nods. “We’ll probably get a pizza. There wasn’t a real dinner plan.”

“Whatever mom.” Lily says as she walks up the stairs.

“I wonder what that is about.”

“We’ll interrogate her later.” I say, kissing Laura’s cheek. “Do you want me to call up for pizza?”

“Not yet. We still have to get back to our bed death discussion.”

“There is nothing to discuss, why don’t we call your dad tomorrow and see if he’ll be willing to babysit for a little bit so you and I could go out and have some alone time, then we’ll come home and put the bed death controversy to rest. How does that sound?”

“Where are you going to take me?” She pouts, resting her arms on my shoulders.

“Where ever you want to go.” I smile, wrapping my arms around her. “How about that place you like with the chocolate cake for dessert?”

“I love you.” She chimes, kissing me softly. 

“I love you too, I’ll make a reservation. Saturday?”

“Six-thirty, seven.”

“Okay.” I smile, kissing her again. All of a sudden there was a loud thud coming from upstairs. I look at Laura and cringe at the sound of Lily and Alicia fighting. “I’ll handle it, you go check on AJ and Tommy.” I say, rushing up the stairs and into Lily’s room.

“You’re nothing but a slut!” Lily shouts, throwing something at Alicia.

“No I’m not, I never did any of that!”

“Hey!” I say, as they continue to shout over me.

“Sara said you did! Sara said she saw you!”

“Sara is a pathological liar!”

“What about Toby? He’s your best friend and even said you were seen kissing several other people while we were dating. Is he a pathological liar too? I fucking hate you!” Lily shouts, lifting her arm to throw something again. I ran in front of her, holding her arms down.

“Enough. Both of you.”

“The boys are still asleep.” Laura says, walking into the room.

“You’re lucky.” I say, looking at Lily. “Now, I’m going to let you go, I want you to sit on your bed, Alicia, sit at the desk. Lily, drop whatever it is in you hand.” With a sigh, she drops whatever was in her hand and sits down on her bed, crossing her arms over her chest. Alicia did as she was told, Laura walking over to stand by her while I stood by Lily. “Now, what’s going on? Lily first.”

“She’s trying to say she didn’t cheat on me when she broke up with me.”

“And I’m telling her that I was told she was cheating on me, that’s why I broke up with her before she could break up with me.”

“Who accused you?” Laura asks, looking between the girls.

“This girl, Stephanie. She started the rumor.” Alicia says, crossing her arms over her chest. “I think she was obsessed with us, or jealous and she wanted is to break up.”

“Stephanie? Stephanie Stand?” I ask, trying to hold back a chuckle. “That girl is such a nerd. She seems like she wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

“She’s a gossiping bitch.” Lily snaps. “But I still don’t believe you.” She adds, sending daggers at Alicia.

“Why wouldn’t you believe me? I spent every moment with you, and when I wasn’t with you I was always texting you and FaceTiming you. Where would I have time to talk to other people when you were the only one I wanted to talk to all the time?” Alicia explains. Lily looks down at the floor, refusing to meet Alicia’s gaze. “I’m sorry that I took so long to talk to you again. I’m sorry we fell victim to a stupid rumor caused by a jealous moron.”

“Carmilla, I think we should give the privacy.” Laura says, making her way out of the room.

“Door stays open, no shouting, no throwing. Got it?”

“Got it.” Lily says with a small nod.

“Okay.” I say, following Laura out of the room. I follow Laura into our room and find her sitting on the bed.

“We’re officially in the territory of dealing with a teenager, aren’t we?”

“I guess we are.” I sigh, wrapping my arm around her. “I hope the boys will be easy.”

“I don’t see why they wouldn’t be. There is no reason for boys to get caught up on the same drama as girls.”

“Unless one of them is gay and feeds off of drama.” I shrug.

“That’s stereotyping.”

“Either way… It’s going to be a trip, isn’t it?”

“I suppose so. I just want the boys to be very happy and respectful towards whoever or whatever they decide to love.” Laura says quietly. Soon there is a knock on our door. We look up to see Lily standing there, wringing her hands together. “Can someone take Al home?”

“Sure, honey.” Laura says. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, her mom just called saying she needed her home.”

“Okay, no problem. I’ll take her home; I’ll pick up dinner on the way. You stay with the boys.” I smile, kissing the side of Laura’s head. “Anything special either of you want?”

“Pepperoni.” Lily smiles. “Please.”

“No problem kiddo.”

 

-Laura POV-

“Come sit by mom.” I say, patting the bed when Carmilla left the room. “Is everything okay?” I ask, wrapping my arm around her.

“I told her I want to think before I forgive her.”

“Do you want to forgive her?”

“Y-yeah. I would like to forgive her. I miss her.”

“As long as you feel like you can forgive her and you know nothing is going to happen again, then you will know it was the right thing to do.”

“I want to punch Stephanie in the face.”

“Don’t do that, it isn’t going to matter in the long run. It isn’t worth getting in trouble over.”

“Is it okay to have one person you love for your whole life?” Lily asks, lying down on Carmilla’s side of the bed.

“If you feel you don’t want to try anything else, or be with anyone else then it is more than okay. No matter what you decide to do with your life, in regards to whom you want to be with or what you want to do with yourself, I will love you no matter what. You can have ten cats if you want to, well maybe not ten, that may be excessive.” I smile, lying back and facing her.

“I don’t know mom.” Lily sighs. “I think I’ll give her another chance.”

“It’s good to give second chances.”

“Mama says you never gave her a second chance.”

“I gave your mother several chances, if anything she never gave me another chance.”

“She still thinks she’s the victim.”

“Well she isn’t. Your mother was always a drama queen.”

“You two are like the same person. I just feel like you should know that.”

“Which is why we never got along after a while. We got along for the first two years we dated and the year after we were married.”

“Then I came along and screwed it all up.”

“No, that isn’t true, me wanting to continue my career if what screwed it all up. She was mad that I wanted to go back to work, and then I got a better position and it made her madder. So if anything, I am the one that screwed it all up. Don’t ever let her tell you something is your fault, okay? Don’t let your mother make you think that way.”

“Okay mom.” She smiles.

“I’m happy you look like me and not like her.” I say, placing my hand on Lily’s cheek.

“That sounds like something mama would say if I looked like her.” She smiles, rolling her eyes as she sits up. “I have to go work on some homework.” 

“If you need help come get me.”

“I will, don’t worry. Oh, can you convince Carmilla to give an extension on the paper that’s due Friday?”

“Have you not done it?”

“I started it, but she’s asking for so much, I don’t know how I’m going to really have to her standards in a matter of three days.”

“How long have you had to do it?”

“She assigned it yesterday.”

“I’ll talk to her about it.” I smile.

“Thanks mom.”

“We’ll see what happens, I doubt she’ll give an extension.”

“It’s worth a shot.” Lily shrugs, making her way to her room.

“I guess so.” I say quietly to myself, I look up and catch my reflection in the mirror, felling self-conscious all of a sudden.

“Don’t you dare, start beating yourself up.” Carmilla chimes from the doorway not too long after Lily went into her room.

“I’m not, I promise.” I smile as she walks over and leans down to kiss me.

“Dinner is on the counter.” She whispers before kissing me again.

“Thank you.” I smile, only to groan seconds later from hearing the boys start to cry. “Like clockwork.”

“They actually slept longer this time I think.”

“Either way, we have to get them out of bed now.”

“I enjoy the fact that they manage to still go to sleep at seven-thirty, even though they just slept for forty-five minutes. I mean, it’s five o’clock, they’ll eat, we’ll give them a bath and back off to bed.” Carmilla chimes.

“Routine, cutie.” I chime, receiving an eye roll from Carm.

“You’re lucky I love you.”

“I know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this story will be coming to an end soon, I don't know when exactly, but I am finding a good place to end it. Either way, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, seeing as I don't know really how I got to how I ended it. Anyway, let me know what you think :)


	21. Chapter 21

-Laura POV-

“You promised you wouldn’t cry anymore, mommy.” AJ says as we stand at the end of the driveway waiting for the bus to come.

“But you two are so grown up now, I don’t know what I’m going to do all day by myself.”

“You said that last week. We can always get a puppy to keep you company.” Thomas chimes, his curly hair in his eyes.

“We are not getting a puppy. I’ve told you that already.”

“But Lily’s cat seems like he’s going to die tomorrow. Why can’t we get a dog?” AJ asks, crossing his arms over his chest.

“You have to go to school, we’ll discuss this later.”

“When mama is home, over dinner.” Tommy says with a nod, meeting his brother at the end of the driveway while the bus comes to a stop.

“Have a good day, make friends and be nice to the other kids!” I say with a wave.

“Okay mom, love you.” The twins say at the same time as they get on the bus and sit together, waving from the window. As the bus continues its way up the street I watch before it is out of sight. I walk into the house; it’s the quietest it has been in five years. I sigh, walking into the kitchen and cleaning up around the house.

“Mom!” I hear Lily call out from the hallway.

“What are you doing home?” I ask, meeting her by the stairs.

“I don’t have class tomorrow, so I decided to start my weekend early.” She shrugs. “Did the brats go to school?”

“You just missed them, why don’t you have classes tomorrow?”

“Professors cancelled. I don’t know why.”

“Okay, how are you, how is everything going?”

“Good.” She says, walking into the kitchen.

“How are you and Alicia doing?”

“Would it be too crazy to say I want to propose to her?”

“That’s a very big decision to make, you’re only twenty.” I say, as I clean up the bowls from breakfast.

“So, you and mama were only what, twenty-two, twenty-three when you got married.”

“But look at where that lead us.”

“That doesn’t mean Al and I are going to end up the same way.”

“Just know that you want to be with her for the rest of your life.”

“I do mom. We’ve known each other for so long and have been in each other’s lives for so long, it only seems like the logical step. I love her so much mom.”

“Then do what you feel is right, I will be there to support you no matter what.” I smile, walking over and kissing her on the cheek. “I’m proud of you no matter what.”

“Thanks mom.” Lily smiles, giving me a hug.

“Where is Alicia?”

“She has class tomorrow morning, but she’s coming here when she’s done.”

“Okay, open door, you know that.”

“We both know so don’t worry.” She says, rolling her eyes at me. “Anything else going on?”

“Your brothers want a puppy.”

“So it can scare Miles to death?”

“AJ thinks Miles is going to die any minute.”

“Please, Miles is only seven, he still has a lot of time before he dies. AJ is a little ass hole.”

“He’s still your brother.”

“Doesn’t make him any less of an ass hole.”

“He’s five.”

“Your point?”

“Can you make yourself useful? I need help with laundry.” I say with a small smile.

“Sure, I have to meet mama for lunch, she wants me to meet her new girlfriend and I want to tell her about Al.” Lily says, walking into the laundry room.

“Thank you.” I say.

“You’re welcome!” Lily calls out. I make my way upstairs to clean up the boys’ room before going into my room to begin working on an article, losing track of time in the process. “Everything is done mom, I’m going to go by mama’s.” Lily says, walking into the room.

“Okay sweetie, thank you. What time is it?”

“It’s almost two. Why?”

“Carmilla should be home soon, she might like to see you.”

“I’ll see her later, I really have to go.”

“Okay, be careful.” I smile as she walks over and kisses me on the cheek.

“I will. Love you.”

“I love you too.” I say as she walks out of the room, nearly crashing into Carmilla in the process.

“Whoa, slow down a bit.” Carmilla says. “How are you?”

“Good, I have to meet mama for lunch, I’ll catch up with you later.”

“Okay, be careful driving.”

“I will.” Lily calls out as she makes her way downstairs. Carmilla sighs, turning to look at me with a smile.

“Hey.” She says quietly, walking over and kissing me quickly. “How are you?”

“Tired. The boys should be home soon.”

“How are they liking school?”

“They get mad that I still cry in the morning.”

“They’ve been in school for a week.”

“I know. I just still get emotional. They think I need a puppy to keep me company.”

“We’re not getting a puppy.” Carmilla says as she begins to change out of her work clothes.

“You tell them that, you can be the bad cop on that front.”

“Good. Cause I don’t want a puppy, they’re too young to take care of it themselves. I don’t want to be stuck cleaning up after it.”

“Again, you can tell them that then.” I say, looking up from my laptop with a smile.

“I will, as soon as we sit down to dinner, cause that’s when they are going to ask me.”

“Exactly right. How was your day?” 

“Good, long.” She says, flopping down on the bed beside me. “What about you?”

“I cleaned and then came in here to work on my article and ended up losing all sense of time.”

“That always happened. Where was Lily off to?”

“She wanted to talk to Danny. She wants to propose to Alicia.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah, and she’s pretty serious too.” I say, closing my laptop.

“Well, if she feels it’s the right thing to do and she wants to take that step, I’m not going to discourage her, and I don’t think you should either.”

“I’m not going to. I just don’t want her jumping into something she may regret.”

“I highly doubt she’s going to turn out like you and Danny did. She’s been with Alicia for five years now, they’re high school sweethearts. I don’t think they are going to screw each other over in any way, shape, or form.”

“I guess you’re right.”

“Who knows, they may make the proposal a big deal and then elope like we did.” Carmilla chimes.

“Not like it was a bad choice.” I smile, leaning in to kiss her quickly.

“It may have been the best choice I’ve ever made.”

“I hope so.”

“Don’t worry, cupcake.” She smiles, kissing me again. “I’m going to get the gremlins off the bus.”

“Okay, make sure they start their homework when they get in, and their snack is in the fridge.”

“Ma’am, yes, ma’am.” Carmilla teases, giving me a playful salute as she walks out of the room. “I’ll be back!”

 

-Carmilla POV-

I stood waiting at the end of the driveway, playing a game on my phone when the bust came to a stop; I glanced up to wave to the bus driver as the boys came running off the bus, crashing into me. “Hello you monsters.” I say, running my fingers through their hair.

“Hi mama.” AJ smiles as he lets me go and runs into the house.

“What’s wrong Tom?” I ask, seeing as he isn’t as excited as AJ was today.

“AJ was picking on me with the other kids on the bus. 

“Why was he picking on you?”

“He was making fun of my glasses.”

“I’ll talk to him about it when we get inside.” I say, wrapping my arm around his shoulder. We get into the house, just as Laura was making her way downstairs.

“Hey sweetie, what’s wrong?”

“AJ was picking on me. He was making fun of my glasses.”

“Go was up and we’ll talk to him.” Laura says as she pulls down her glasses from being on top of her head. “Aiden.”

“Yeah!” He calls out from the kitchen. Laura and I walk in to find him sitting at the counter eating his after school snack.

“Were you making fun of Thomas?”

“Maybe.” He says casually as he continues to eat his snack.

“Aiden.” I warn, causing him to drop the piece of apple he was eating.

“I’m sorry. But everyone else was, I didn’t want to be the only one not doing it.”

“That doesn’t matter. He’s your brother, technically he’s your little brother, and you’re supposed to be looking out for him.” Laura explains.

“But his glasses are dorky.”

“It doesn’t matter, it’s not nice to do that to your brother.” I say. “You’re going to apologize to him and you don’t get to watch TV later.”

“But mama.” He whines.

“No buts, you should have thought of that before you decided to join in on making fun of your brother.” Laura chimes, making her way to the fridge to get out Tom’s snack.

“I’m sorry Tim, I shouldn’t have made fun of you.” AJ says when his brother walks into the room.

“It’s okay. I forgive you.” Tommy says, hugging his brother when he walks over to him.

“You aren’t getting back your TV privilege, kiddo.” I chime, shaking my head.

“Ugh, okay.” He complains.

“Start your homework, please.” Laura chimes, making herself a cup of tea.

“Are you going to help?” AJ asks, taking out his homework folder.

“Should we help them, Carm?”

“I dunno, cupcake. They’ve been in kindergarten for a whole week now, I think they can handle doing things for themselves now.” I say, playing along with Laura.

“Yeah, they’re old enough to handle it on their own now.”

“Come on.”

“Yeah stop teasing us.” Thomas whines.

“He’s whining, I think we should stop.” Laura deadpans.

“Yeah, I guess we’ll just help them.” I sigh dramatically.

“You’re silly mama.” AJ laughs.

“I’m just so silly.” I chime, kissing his cheek. “What do you need help with?”

“I don’t need help yet, but you’ll help me when I need it, right?”

“Of course, shorty.” 

* * *

“I’m nervous.” Lily says as she looks at herself in the mirror.

“You’re getting married, kid. It’s the most nerve wracking day of your life, until you decide to have kids, that ever day until they’re about seven will be nerve wracking.” I chime, looking at her in the mirror. “Just think, ten years ago you were an over achieving book worm in my English class.”

“And now you’re helping me get ready for my wedding and married to my mother. You’re welcome.” She chimes.

“I guess I should thank you. If it wasn’t for you, your mother probably wouldn’t have given in to me.”

“If it wasn’t for me punching that ass hole.”

“That I think was the most badass thing you ever did for the rest of your time in high school.”

“It was, I didn’t do anything aggressive after that.” Lily smiles.

“No you didn’t. I don’t know if I’ve ever said this, but I feel like I’m allowed to at this point. I am very proud of you.”

“Thank you, Carm.” Lily smiles, stepping closer to give me a hug. “Where’s mom?”

“She’s making sure your brothers keep themselves out of trouble.”

“They’re nearly ten years old, you’d think they’d get a grip by now.”

‘You’re talking about kids that like to drown anthills with grape soda, and fart on each other.”

“Oh the excitement of boys.” Lily rolls her eyes.

“Having a son keeps you on your toes, and having a teenage daughter keeps the whole family on their toes. But having a kid is the most rewarding thing ever.”

“Is that why you chose to be a teacher?”

“I never planned on having kids of my own after the loss of my son, teaching was a way to help me fulfill the drive I had to make an impact on a kid’s life. I mean…”

“Well, you were on of the best teachers I’ve ever had.”

“So there we go. If I can have that impact on all of my students, then I did my job right.”

“Sorry, your brothers have been running around like maniacs.” Laura huffs, walking into the room, catching Lily in her dress causes her breath to hitch. “You look so beautiful.”

“Ugh, mom, don’t start crying.”

“Why not? My baby is all grown up and now you’re getting married, you’ll be crying on your child’s wedding some day.” She says, dabbing her eyes with a tissue. “It makes me feel old.”

“You’re still hot no matter how old you are.” I smile, kissing Laura quickly. “I love you no matter what.”

“As you should.” She smiles, caressing my cheek.

“Okay, can you two leave now, I’m falling behind schedule.” Lily complains just as there is a knock on the door.

“Ready to go?” Sherman asks, poking his head in the room.

“Yes, grandpa.”

“You look beautiful, you look like grandma when we got married.”

“Please don’t start crying.” Lily sighs as she walks over to Sherman.

“I won’t, I promise.” Sherman says, standing up straight. “Shall we?”

“We shall.” 

* * *

I make my way over to where Laura was sat eating cookies. “Has anyone else been able to get to that dessert table besides you?” I whisper in her ear, causing her to jump slightly. I kiss her on the cheek before sitting down beside her.

“Yes, as a matter of fact. This is only my first plate, and there isn’t a lot left, thank you very much.”

“There’s an extra order of creampuffs that should be put out soon.”

“I love you.” Laura smiles, pulling me in for a kiss.

“I love you too, cupcake. Where are the boys?”

“AJ is dancing with Alicia, and Tommy is dancing with Lily. My aunt is running around and taking pictures for us.” Laura explains, pointing towards the dance floor. Lily and Alicia had both worn white dresses for the ceremony and changed into white suits. The boys had big smiles on their faces as they took over the dance floor with the newly weds.

“They’re so cute.” I smile, looking over to see Sherman recording a video of them dancing.

“We should enjoy it now, cause they aren’t going to be cute tomorrow.”

“This is true.” I laugh, Laura turns to look at me, a small smile on her face. “What?” I ask quietly, running my thumb over her cheek.

“Thank you.” She whispers, leaning over to kiss me softly.

“You’re welcome.” I whisper against her lips.

“Come on mama!” AJ shouts, running over and pulling my arm.

“Yeah, come dance with us mommy!” Thomas says, pulling at Laura.

“We are being summoned.” I tease, picking up AJ and taking Laura by the hand. I put AJ back on his feet and take Laura by the waist. “We never had a chance to dance at our own wedding.”

“Seeing as we never had a real one.” Laura rolls her eyes with a smile. “In hindsight, having a wedding like this wouldn’t have suited us well.”

“Yeah, we aren’t like this too much.”

“No, we’re not.” Laura grimaces. “I love you no matter what though.”

“I love you no mater what, too.”

“Excuse me, but can I dance with you?” AJ asks, tugging at my shirt.

“Well, I guess someone is cutting in.” I tease, holding a hand out for him. “Certainly sir.” I chime as he takes my hand in his and we begin swaying to the music.

“Mommy, will you dance with me?” Tommy asks Laura.

“Well of course I will.” Laura smiles, as she begins to sway with Tommy. I look up to see Alicia and Lily sharing an intimate moment, what looked to be as if they were whispering sweet nothings to each other and being in pure bliss. I look then to see Laura and Thomas sharing a moment too, the boy looking up at Laura with a big grin on his face as she looks down at him and smiles. Then I look down at AJ, who was looking down at his feet, making sure he didn’t step on mine, I laughed to myself, but in that moment I knew everything was perfect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there we have it. Thank you all for reading and I'm happy to know that you've enjoyed this work. Leaving comments and kudos helps more than you know when it comes to motivation for a writer :) 
> 
> I decided that I will be taking prompts. If you enjoy my writing, maybe you can help offer up ideas and then I'll take them however I feel is right. Maybe? It's just a suggestion, seeing as I don't have another unfinished story that I'm currently working on, and another I should get back to. Anyway, if you want to leave me a prompt or just want to say hi, you can follow me, ask me, or message me on Tumblr; juli-with-a-chance.
> 
> Thank you all again, and I hope you enjoy the ending :)


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so we aren't done here. I didn't want to do a sequel because this isn't something that needs to be in a sequel, but gives continuation to the story. I planned on doing this since the beginning. I went against it at first cause I didn't really know how to go about it, and therefore ended the story when I did. Until I felt the spark to continue, so either you will like this story line or not....

-Carmilla POV-

“My feet hurt.” Laura whines as we pull into the driveway.

“Am I going to have to carry you off to bed too?”

“Maybe.” She smiles, lulling her head to the side.

“We’ll I’ll just have to take the boys first and save you for last.” I smile, leaning over to kiss her. “I’ll take up AJ first.”

“Okay.” I get out of the car and carefully open the back door, getting AJ out of the seat belt. I get the boys in their beds as quickly as possible, making sure to get them out of their tight clothes. I go back to the car to see Laura sitting there was a smile. “I’m really going to have to take you upstairs?”

“You love me.”

“I’m currently questioning it.”

“You haven’t carried me over the threshold in a long time.”

“I know, the last time I did it, I almost died.” I tease, helping her out of the car.

“You can at least carry me to bed.”

“That I can do.” I smile, kissing her quickly. We make our way into the house and up to our room. When we get to the bedroom door I pick Laura up, taking her by surprise as I make out way towards the bed. I put her down, causing her to bounce slightly.

“Thank you.” She says through a laugh.

“You’re welcome.” I say, leaning down to kiss her. “I have to get out of these clothes.”

“Okay.” She says, placing her hand on my cheek. “Then we have to discuss something.”

“It’s nearly two in the morning.”

“It can’t wait.”

“Is everything okay?”

“I think so. But we still have to talk about it.”

“Okay. I’ll be quick.” I walk into the bathroom to wash my face quickly before changing into something more comfortable. I get back to be to see that Laura was under the covers and her dress was thrown over the chair on her side of the bed. I get under the covers and face her; she places her hand on my cheek. “You’re scaring me.” I whisper.

“I don’t want you to be scared. It isn’t something that should be scary.”

“What is it then?”

“Thomas told me something, I don’t know if you’re going to be okay with it.”

“What did he tell you?”

“He said that one day he wants to be able to wear a pretty dress like Lily did when he gets married.” She says quietly.

“You make it seem like this isn’t the first time he’s said something like that to you.”

“It’s not.”

“What are we going to do? What do you think we should do?”

“We should take him to a therapist maybe, make sure that everything he’s saying and feeling is valid and true. Then we’ll go from there.”

“We’ll ask is your dad could take AJ tomorrow so we can have some time to talk to Tommy.”

“I think that’s a good idea.” Laura whispers.

“Why did you think I would be scared?”

“I don’t know, I know you’re very liberal and all, but at the same time, something like that could be a lot to handle.”

“I’m going to love our children no matter what they are. If he wanted to be a dinosaur, I would still love him.” I say, running my fingers through her hair. 

* * *

“Why couldn’t I stay with grandpa today?” Tommy asks from the back seat.

“We’re going to give you some alone time with us kiddo. We’re going to do anything you want to.”

“Can we go to the toy store?”

“Of course we can.” Laura smiles.

“Mommy, can you sit with me?”

“Of course, sweetheart.” Laura chimes, getting into the back seat before we pull away from Sherman’s house. “What do you want at the toy store?” She asks, running her fingers through his hair.

“I don’t know yet, but I can’t wait to get something new.”

“You can get whatever you want.” I smile.

“Can I get the whole store?”

“No, silly.” Laura smiles, tickling his side. “But whatever you want, you can get it.”

“Really?” He whispers.

“Yes, really.” Laura says quietly, leaning in to kiss the top of his head. We walk around the store, allowing Thomas to take in the time of not only being alone with us, but also being alone in a toy store with us. We walk past an aisle that consisted mainly of girly toys, and things that were pink, Thomas looks down the aisle and sighs before making his way towards a more conventionally boy aisle.

“Hey.” I say, putting my hand on his shoulder to stop him. “We said you could get whatever you want.”

“I can get a doll?” He whispers, looking up at me through his glasses.

“Yes, you can sweetie.” Laura smiles as he rushes over towards the aisle.

“You like that one?” I ask, walking up to him.

“Yeah, did mommy tell you?”

“Did mommy tell me what?”

“Did mommy tell you I’m a girl?” He whispers, looking at the different Barbie dolls.

“She told me that you want to wear a pretty dress like Lily did. And if you want to do that as a boy more power to you kid, but I think mommy had more intuition than I did.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means she knew that you were a girl before I did.”

“Are you mad?”

“I would never be mad at you, it’s who you are and I love you no matter what.”

“That’s what mommy said.” Tommy smiles, wrapping his arms around my waist. “I love you mama.”

“I love you too. We’ll talk more about this when we get home, did you decide what you want?”

“This one. She’s pretty.” He smiles, picking one of the dolls.

“Okay then, do you want anything else?”

“Can we go get new clothes?”

“I think that can be arranged.” Laura smiles. After a long day of shopping, and a few extra purchases than we intended, Laura, Thomas and I decided to go to his favorite place for lunch, hibachi.

“Do I have to tell AJ?”

“You’re going to have to tell him sooner or later.” Laura says.

“What is he doesn’t love me any more?”

“He’ll still love you no matter what. We’re a family, we love each other unconditionally.”

“I guess so. But what if he treats me different.”

“If he treats you any different, he will be spoken to.” I say, kissing his cheek. “So, the real question that we should discuss, what do you want us to call you?”

“I can pick my new name?”

“Of course you can, you’re going to have a new identity. You have the right to pick what you want it to be.”

“But that means I have to change my middle name. Grandpa may be mad if I change my middle name though.”

“Your middle name isn’t anyone’s business, you don’t have to change that just yet. How about your first name?” Laura says.

“Can it be, Beth?” Laura gasps quietly; the kids have never known the name of Laura’s grandmother.

“Hello Beth.” I smile, kissing her cheek. “I’m mama. And that’s mommy.”

“I know that.” She laughs. “Mommy, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m okay. That’s such a beautiful name.” Laura smiles, kissing the side of Beth’s head.

“Now is, Beth, short for, Elizabeth?”

“Yeah, but Elizabeth is too long. Beth is easier.”

“Well, welcome to the world, Beth.” I chime. 

“I love you mommy, and I love you mama."

“We love you too sweetie. We just have to tell you something now.”

“Okay.”

“We’re going to set up a time for you to talk to someone, a doctor that will just help you make sure that this is how you really feel, and that you really want to do this.”

“I know in my head I am a girl, so I do know I want to do it. But I’ll still talk to someone.”

“Okay sweetie. It may help with other things too.” Laura smiles.

“Okay mommy.” 

* * *

“AJ come down here please!” I call up the stairs.

“Okay!”

“Are you ready?” I ask, looking at Beth sitting beside Laura on the couch.

“What if he hates me?”

“He’s your brother, he’s going to love you no matter what.” Laura says, kissing her curly hair.

“What’s wrong?” AJ asks, walking into the living room. He sits on the other couch across from Laura and Beth.

“Nothing’s wrong, we just want to talk to you about something, and no you aren’t in trouble.”

“Okay, so what’s wrong?”

“Thomas is different… But that doesn’t mean you will love him any less.”

“Her.” AJ corrects. “I know you’re a girl.”

“How?”

“I’m your brother, I know when something is different with you.”

“How do you feel about that?” Laura asks.

“I don’t care, what am I going to call you? And can I have that Lego Batman shirt back?”

“Beth, and no cause it’s still mine.”

“Okay, can I go back upstairs now?”

“Wait. What are you going to do if anyone makes fun of her?”

“Punch them in the face.”

“Maybe a little less violent, within reason.” I say.

“Okay mama.” AJ chimes. “I love you, Beth. I won’t let anyone make fun of you.”

“Thank you, AJ.”

“You’re welcome.” He smiles, giving her a hug. “Can I go now?”

“You may go, both of you.” They chase each other up the stairs. “That went well.”

“Yeah, it did. Now we just have to think of how we’re going to tell everyone else.”

“Baby steps. Let’s take the time to digest this ourselves before throwing it at everyone else. Give, Beth, the time to adjust.”

“Okay. You’re right.” Laura says, resting her head on my shoulder. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”


	23. Chapter 23

-Carmilla POV- 

“Do I have to go in there by myself?” Beth asks, resting her chin on my arm as she looks up at me.

“Yes, you have to go talk to the nice doctor first. Then mommy and I will go in.”

“I’m nervous.”

“Being nervous is okay, sweetie.” Laura says, taking her hand. “Everything will be okay.”

“Elizabeth Karnstein?” A cheerful voice says, standing at the end of the hallway with a smile on his face.

“Mama, come with me.”

“We can walk you to the room but you have to go in by yourself.”

“Okay.” She sighs, standing up and walking towards the man who crouches down to be at eyelevel with Beth.

“Hello there, I’m Dr. Webster.” He says, extending his hand.

“I’m Beth, I don’t like being called, Elizabeth, it’s too long.”

“That’s perfectly fine, Beth.” He smiles, standing up to face me. “Hello there.” He says, shaking Laura’s hand and mine.

“Hello, I’m Carmilla and this is my wife Laura.”

“Nice to meet you both, I’m going to take, Beth, back and talk to her for a short while and then I’ll come out here for you and we’ll talk.”

“Can they walk me back?” Beth asks, looking up at us through her glasses.

“That’s okay, come on.” He says, Beth takes my hand and Laura’s in the other as she follows Dr. Webster. “Okay, time for you and me to just talk.” He smiles.

“Okay.” Beth sighs.

“Hey, we’ll be right down the hall, we aren’t going far.” Laura says, kissing the top of her head. I kiss the top of her head and smile as she walks into the room with Dr. Webster. Laura and I go back to the waiting room, I sat there grading a couple of papers I took with me, while Laura covers ever inch on an article she was writing in red pen. After a half hour later, Dr. Webster came into the waiting room to get us; taking us into a different room than the one we left Beth at. This room was obviously his office, degrees hanging on the walls, pictures of him and his family all around. Something about it was warm and welcoming.

“Okay, so. I’d like to begin by saying your daughter is by far a very well rounded child. Secondly, you may refer to me as Tanner, until I get to know your daughter more she will just know me as Dr. Webster.” He smiles. “I’ll start by answering any questions you two may have.”

“Is what she’s feeling valid?” Laura asks, taking my hand in hers.

“As someone who as been in her shoes before, yes. What she is feeling is valid. I don’t know how you feel about it, or what your beliefs are, but your daughter is here to stay, there is no changing that.”

“Trust us, we are far from ever making her feel unwelcome. We just wanted to make sure that she is truly secure.” I explain.

“She is, she’s secure in herself and she is as beaming as any ten-year-old.”

“When is a good time to begin the transition on a physical level?”

“Before puberty, you don’t want her to go through something she will not understand, it may do a lot more damage than you would want it to. So maybe by eleven or twelve, a physician will be able to discuss that with you more so. I can say from experience that I would start her as soon as possible; I got my hormone treatments after I went through puberty and it was essentially going through a second puberty. I don’t mean to be so open, but I feel like it helps the parents understand when it’s coming from a first hand account.”

“No, please we want to understand what our child is going through.”

“Just don’t stop her from being who she is. There is no reason for anyone to stop her. It is extremely valid and she is happy and mentally healthy due to the accepting environment you provide as parents.”

“Where do we go from here?” I ask.

“I’d say make an appointment to talk to her pediatrician. Just set up a meeting, let them know what’s going on and see what they’ll do. I don’t see why, now a days, they wouldn’t gave you hormone treatments, but you’ll clearly have to see about that. I want to see, Beth, again. I’d like for her to come to my group I have on Thursdays at six, it’s a group of boys and girls from about seven to ten years old.”

“Do we get to stay with her?”

“The group is just for the kids, we talk for about a half hour, forty-five minute, then the rest of the hour I ask the parents to come in and just let the kids get to know each other a bit more personally rather than how they are trans and why they know they are trans.

“So it’s like a mixer for the adults and a session for the kids?” Laura asks.

“I guess you would put it that way.”

“We’ll discuss that with her when we get home, I don’t see why she wouldn’t want to go and meet kids in the same position as her.” I say with a smile.

“Please do, it will ne good for her. Knowing she really isn’t alone, there may even be kids from school that she didn’t know were trans and it may help.”

“We’ll talk about it, see what she wants.”

“Of course, wouldn’t want to pressure her.”

“Exactly.” I smile. “So, are we done here?”

“Yeah, I would say so. I would like to see her again the same time next week.”

“No problem.” Laura says. We watch as Tanner types something into his computer before turning to us and smiling.

“It was a pleasure meeting you, here is my card, let me know if Beth will be joining us for group this week. If she goes once, she doesn’t have to go constantly, I would like for her to go as much as possible.”

“Okay.” I say, standing up from my chair and I hold my hand out for Laura to take. Tanner leads us to the room where Beth was. He opened the door and Beth looked up with a smile. “Hey kiddo.”

“Hi mama.” She says, running over to hug me. “Hi, mommy.”

“Hello, sweetie.” Laura smiles, kissing the top of her head.

“Can we go home now?”

“That’s why we came back in here, we’re going to go now. Unless you like it here so much and want to stay.” I tease.

“No, I want to go home.”

“I was hoping so.” I say, picking her up.

“I told your moms I would like to see you this time next week, is that okay?” Tanner asks with a smile.

“Okay, Dr. Webster.” She smiles, giving him a high five. We say our goodbyes and make our way out of the office. “I like Dr. Webster, he’s nice.”

“What did you two talk about?” Laura asks.

“He told me that he was like me, expect he wanted to be a boy and not a girl. Then he asked me how I felt and I told him. He said it was perfectly okay as long as I knew how I felt and that I was making the right choice to be happy.”

“That’s good sweetie. How would you feel about meeting other kids like you?” I ask as I start to drive home.

“I think that would be good.” She says, looking out the window.

“You wouldn’t mind if you went to a group meeting?”

“What’s that?”

“Kinda like what you did today, but with other kids talking too, not just you and Dr. Webster.” 

“Oh, okay. Can I think about it?”

“Of course you can, sweetie.” Laura smiles.

“We still have to tell grandpa, and Lily…” Beth informs.

“We will tell them.”

“When, I’m ready to tell them.”

“Sweetheart, it’s only been a week since you told us.” I say.

“I don’t care, I want to tell grandpa.”

“We’ll call him and see if he wants to come for dinner tomorrow.” Laura smiles.

“Thank you mommy.” 

* * *

“Is he on the way?” Beth asks, sitting at the counter.

“Yeah, he’ll be here soon.” Laura says as she chops vegetables

“How are we going to tell him?” I ask.

“I think we should just sit him down and then tell him. If he seeing you sitting there, Beth, he may get confused, he needs to have it explained to him first, I think.”

“Is he going to love me?”

“I have no doubt. There is no reason why he wouldn’t. Your grandpa is an understanding and amazing individual. He is so accepting and so loving.” Laura explains. “He’s always going to love you just as much as we love you.”

“I hope so.” Beth says, bowing her head, only for it to shoot up when she hears Sherman walking through the door.

“Hello, hello!” He calls out. I walk in, meeting him halfway.

“Hey, Dad. How are you?”

“I’m great Carmilla, where is everyone?”

“AJ is on his way home, and Tom is finishing up a project.” I say as I cringe at the reference I had to make. “Laura and I would like to talk to you about something, go sit on the couch, I’ll get her.” I smile walking back into the kitchen. “I told him to wait on the couch. Can you wait in here until I call you, sweetheart?”

“Okay.” Beth says with a nod. I smile, kissing her cheek.

“We love you no matter what.” I whisper in her ear.

“I know.”

“I’ll come get you in a minute.”

“Okay, mama.” I smile, walking with Laura into the living room to see Sherman looking at one of the magazines on the coffee table.

“Hey sweetie.” He smiles, getting up to hug Laura.

“Hi, Dad.”

“So what’s going on, I feel like I’m going to get bad news?”

“Oh, it isn’t bad news. But it’s news.” Laura says, sitting down across from Sherman. “It has recently come to our attention that Tommy, hasn’t felt like himself. For a while now, so we called you to tell you that something has changed, nothing major, nothing we have a lot of control over. But it’s something that we are still getting used to, but the love we have for our child is that which can never be changed…”

“You have a granddaughter!” I shout, shutting Laura up. “Sorry, cupcake, but this isn’t the time to be rambling, sweetie come in here!” I shout, soon Beth comes walking into the room shyly. “Thomas has brought to our attention that he hasn’t felt like a boy, he has felt like a girl, therefore, Thomas is now, Elizabeth or Beth as she likes to be called. Come here sweetie.” I say, she walks over and sit on my lap.

“Wow.” Sherman says. “You know, I thought something was different about you for a while, not that it’s bad, don’t get me wrong, I still love you whether you’re a boy, girl, or iguana, but I just had this feeling that you weren’t like other boys, and it turns out I was right.”

“Do you still love me, grandpa?”

“Of course I still love you, we’re just going to have to exchange your name on your fishing rod at my house. And whatever else you feel you’d like changed. I’m not forcing gender-ness on you, for lack of a better word. I’m not going to get you pink things and stuff if you don’t want it. You’re still my grandchild; you’re still an extension of Laura. I don’t want you getting mad if I call you by the wrong things, that may take me a bit to grasp, I’m still old. So we’re all going to be learning this together I assume?”

“Yeah, we are learning. She is learning, figuring out herself. No matter what, she is still the same outgoing and pain in the butt kid.” I say, kissing the side of her head as I run my fingers through her curls.

“I love you grandpa.” Beth chimes, getting out of my lap and walking over to Sherman.

“You look just like your mommy did when she was ten, minus the glasses of course.” Sherman smiles, kissing Beth’s cheek. “I love you no matter what.”


	24. Chapter 24

-Laura POV- 

“Mommy?” Beth asks, walking into my room with her new sunflower sundress on.

“What’s up?” I ask as I continue to fold laundry.

“Am I pretty?”

“You are beautiful.” I smile, kneeling down in front of her. “Don’t let anyone ever tell you differently.”

“When are we going to that group you and mama talked about?”

“Next week, Dr. Webster cancelled this week.”

“Oh, okay. I want to make friends like me. What if my friends don’t like me when I start school again?”

“Well, you’ll just have to wait to see what happens. Who know, maybe all of your friends will still like you and want to play with you.”

“I don’t know. I don’t have a lot of friends anyway.” Beth says, bowing her head and taking her glasses off to rub the tears from her eyes.

“Oh, sweetie.” I say, wrapping her in a hug. “You have all the time in the world to make so many friends, there are always going to be people that won’t understand what you’re going through, but there will be some that don’t care. What matters is that you know that you are always going to be loved by me, and mama, AJ, Lily, and Alicia.”

“Don’t forget grandpa.”

“I could never forget grandpa, he loves you the most and will never let anything happen to you. He will protect you.”

“I love you mommy.” She says, tears welling in her hazel eyes.

“I love you more than you’ll ever know, sweetie. I don’t want you ever forgetting how much I love you.” I say, wiping the tears from her eyes and kissing her cheek.

“Can I have a snack?”

“Of course you can.” I say through a laugh. “What do you want?”

“Grapes!”

“Lead the way.” I say, following her down to the kitchen. After getting Beth her snack and setting her up in front of the TV, Carmilla was walking through the front door. “Hey.”

“Hey, cupcake.” She smiles, walking over and kissing me.

“How did everything go?”

“Sure enough, by the time I got there with the drill Lily and Alicia found theirs.” Carmilla says, rolling her eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing just had to do some reassuring.”

“Is she still doubtful?”

“Of course, we have to get her on hormone blockers soon, I think that will make her feel better. We need to slow things down.”

“You’re reading too much. You need to calm down.”

“Kids start puberty at all different ages now a days, there’s something in the food and stuff that’s progressing it and making it happen sooner.”

“Aside from cookies, you feed these kids an organic diet. The bulk of our credit card debt is from Whole Foods.” 

“That’s not entirely true.”

“It isn’t, but at the same time, any more organic and we’ll have a farm in the yard. You already asked your dad to build a chicken coop.”

“They help with the bugs. In the yard, seeing as you have a tick awareness going on.”

“This is useless arguing. I’ll call the pediatrician now, and we’ll see what’s going on. Beth’s blood work should be in by now.”

“Yeah, it’s been over a week, we should have heard from them.”

“Let me call, then I’ll make the appointment for as soon as possible.” Carmilla says, walking away. 

“Mommy?”

“Yes?” I say, walking over to Beth.

“I love you.”

“I love you too sweetie.”

“Can you put a movie on for me?”

“What do you want?”

“Inside Out.” She smiles, walking over and sitting on the couch. I put the movie on and turn to see she was getting comfortable on the couch, resting her head on the pillow.

“You want a blanket?”

“Yes please.” She nods.

“If you start to fall asleep, remember to take your glasses off, we’re still waiting for the other pair to come in the mail.”

“I know mommy.”

“Okay, I just don’t want to come in here and see them still on your face.” I tease, kissing the top of her head. I walk into the kitchen and see Carmilla standing in front of the calendar we have hung up on the fridge.

“Okay. Thank you.” Carmilla says, hanging up the phone. “They have her results ready, they were going to call tomorrow seeing as they only got them today. Anyway, Beth’s appointment is for tomorrow morning at eleven.

“Perfect, we can take her before we have to get AJ from his friend’s house.”

“Good, it all works out. I think Lily and Al are coming by for dinner tomorrow. We’ll just do a barbecue or something?”

“That seems like a good idea.” I chime. 

* * *

“Why are they taking so long?” Carmilla asks, bouncing her knee as we sit in the examination room with Beth.

“Calm down mama, there are a lot of people.”

“Exactly. Everything is okay.”

“I know, but I don’t want to feel rushed when it’s our turn.”

“We won’t. Dr. Adams knows the situation and knows we have a lot of questions; we’re lucky to have a pediatrician who is up to date on this topic. Please just calm down.” I say, placing my hand on her knee. 

“Hello ladies.” Dr. Adams smiles as she walks into the room and closes the door behind her, she sits in the chair at the small desk before rolling over to sit in front of Beth. “How are we doing today?”

“I’m good. Why does that folder still say, Thomas?”

“We haven’t had a chance to change it just yet, seeing as you only started identifying as Elizabeth, or Beth, not too long ago. Your mommy called and told me, then the last time I saw you, we were still getting used to Beth. I’ll make sure to change it today.” She says with a warm smile. “Now, the reason you’re here.” Dr. Adams says, turning to face us. “The blood work shows that Beth has begun the beginning stages of male puberty, but it isn’t too far into it where something will change drastically over night, there is just a minute trace of the hormones, so blockers will really just keep her where she’s at in regards to development. So we are really pausing at a good time.”

“How do we go about blocking?”

“Well.” Dr. Adams begins, turning in her chair and wheeling herself back over to the desk. She rummages through a few drawers until she finds what she’s looking for. “This, little tiny, tube, if you will. We’ll have to surgically place it in her arm, under the skin, kinda like how you microchip your dog. I know it’s a strange comparison, but it’s the easiest way to understand it. It releases the blocking hormones, and may need to be changed before we decide what is best for Beth, if this is real or a phase, one day she may wake up and want to be Thomas again, who knows. If you feel this isn’t going to change then we will discuss that of course, but until then. This little thing is going to help keep everything at a stand still.”

“The surgery isn’t highly invasive, is it?” I ask.

“Not at all, the whole this will only take maybe ten minutes or so. Not even. You both can be in the operating room when it’s being done, only due to the fact that it is so quick.

“Does she have to be put under?’ Carmilla asks.

“Yes, it is still cutting into the skin and making sure it’s in the right place, it can’t just be injected or anything like that, it has to be done surgically, but like I said, she’ll be in and out before she even knows it and will be home the same day.”

“Does that mean I get to be my real self sooner?” Beth asks.

“It means we get to put a pause on your development so when you’re old enough you can start being your real self. Your moms still need to discuss it, I still want you to go to your counselor and we can check back in a year or so and see where we stand. Okay?”

“Okay. But I know that I want to be Beth, I don’t want to be Tommy anymore. That isn’t me.”

“I understand, now let me check you out quick and we’ll set up an appointment for your surgery.” Dr. Adams smiles, standing up to do a basic examination of Beth. “I’m assuming you want it done before she goes back to school?”

“I think that would be better than taking her out of school.” I say, looking at Carmilla who nods in agreement.

“Okay, I will give you a call tomorrow and we’ll set something up. I can’t pull up the surgeon’s schedule but will give him a call in a little bit.”

“Thank you.” I smiles, standing up to shake Dr. Adams’ hand.

“Yeah, thank you a lot.” Carmilla smiles. “Come on kid.”

“Okay, when do I have to come back?” Beth asks.

“When it’s time to. I told your moms I’d call and set something up.”

“Okay.” Beth nods. “Can we go get lunch?"

“You eat too much.” Carmilla teases, running her fingers through Beth’s curls.

“I’m a growing child.”

“She isn’t wrong.” The doctor chimes.

“See I’m not wrong, besides I like spending time with you and mommy without AJ.”

“We like spending time with just you too.” I smile, kissing Beth on the top of her head. “Your brother can be a handful.”

 

-Carmilla POV-

“Mama!” Beth shouts as she runs through the backdoor.

“What happened?"

“AJ fell out of the tree house.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“No!” Beth shouts over her shoulder as she runs over to where AJ was lying on the ground, holding his arm.

“Can you move your arm, kiddo?” I ask, kneeling down beside him.

“It hurts mama.” He complains.

“What were you doing in that tree house, grandpa said it wasn’t ready to go in it yet.”

“I told you so.” Beth chimes.

“Sweetie, go get your bag, we’ll just being going to the hospital a bit earlier than planned.” I say, moving to pick AJ up.

“What’s going on here?” Laura asks, walking through the gate with a few new toys for the pool.

“Our very own, Evel Kenivel, did something dumb.” I say, rolling my eyes. “Good thing we were already going to the hospital. Can you take care of Beth’s paperwork, let them know I’ll have this guy in the ER?”

“Of course.” Laura smiles, kissing my cheek. “Let’s get going.” 

* * *

“Well, you broke your arm in two places, kid.” The doctor says, walking in and putting the X-ray on the wall light to show us. “All I can say is that you’re lucky it’s a clean break and you’re lucky you didn’t hit the growth plate.”

“So he’ll be okay, for the most part?” I ask.

“He’ll need to be in a cast for about eight weeks, but other than that he’ll be okay. I’ll be right back with the material.” The doctor smiles as he leaves.

“What were you thinking?”

“I fell mama.” AJ pouts.

“There’s something else going on with you, you know you can talk to us.”

“I feel like you’re spending too much time with Beth. You and mommy only worry about her, you don’t care about me anymore.” He says with tears in his eyes.

“Is that why you threw yourself out of the tree house?”

“Kinda. I miss you and mommy, I feel like you forgot about me.”

“We still love you, that is never going to change.” I say, wrapping my arms around him and kissing his cheek. I hold his face in my hands and rub the tears away from his cheeks. “There is a lot mommy and I are learning about Beth and what she has to go through. I’m sorry that we have been spending more time with her than we have with you, but that doesn’t change the fact that we love you. After Beth gets this surgery, things will start to slow down a bit, the only think we’ll have to do is take her to her therapist, other than that, mommy and I will talk about spending time with you alone.”

“Okay mama, thank you.”

“Let’s get you wrapped up, kiddo.” The doctor chimes. “Do you want a color?”

“Can it be red?”

“Of course.” The man smiles as he begins wrapping up AJ’s arm. After he had his cast put on, AJ and I made our way to the children’s wing of the hospital.

“Do you want anything before we get to mommy and your sister?”

“Can we get mommy and Beth cookies?”

“Sure thing, kiddo.” I say, ruffling his hair. After getting the cookies and coffee for Laura and I, we look for Beth’s room. “Here we are, AJ.”

“Mama, I didn’t think you were coming here.” Beth says from her hospital bed.

“I’m here kiddo, don’t worry.”

“I brought you a cookie.” AJ smiles as he hands Beth the cookie.

“You can eat it after your surgery.”

“Okay, mama.” Beth sighs as she looks back at her tablet. I walk over to Laura, handing her a cup.

“Coffee.” I smile, kissing her cheek.

“Thank you.” She smiles, kissing me quickly. “What happened with him?”

“He missed the growth plate by a slim margin, and broke it in two places. He needs the cast for eight weeks or so. We also have to discuss something when we get home.”

“What is it?”

“He resents the fact that we’ve been spending so much time with Beth, he thinks we don’t love him anymore.” I say quietly.

“Oh my.” Laura whispers. “I feel terrible. What should we do?”

“I told him that what’s been going on has been a lot for all of us, but this surgery is going to help us bring focus back to him. Aside from having to bring Beth to therapy.”

“I feel like we have to do something to make up for it.”

“What do you want to do?”

“I don’t know, we’ll talk about it when we get home. Right now we have to worry about his arm and her getting through this.” 

“Carm, it’s literally ten minutes long, maybe twenty.”

“It’s still getting put to sleep.”

“I know it makes you nervous.” She smiles, wrapping her arms around me. “Have I ever told you what an amazing mother you are?”

“Once or twice, but it’s been a while.” I tease, kissing her quickly.

“You two are gross.” AJ grimaces.

“Yeah, really.” Beth chimes.

“Oh hush you two.” Laura smiles.

“Elizabeth Karnstein?” A nurse asks, looking at a clipboard. “Ready to go?”

“Yeah.” Beth smiles. “Can my mommy come with me?"

“You want me to go?”

“Yeah.” Beth nods.

“Your mom can come with us, yes.”

“We’ll be back.” Laura chimes, I walk over to Beth and smile.

“AJ and I will be waiting for you here. We’ll see you soon.” I say, kissing her forehead. “I love you.”

“I love you too, mama.” Beth smiles. AJ walks up beside me, taking Beth’s hand in his.

“Don’t die.” He sighs. “Ow!” He whines as I hit the back of his head.

“Sorry, my hand twitched.”

“Carm, knock it off. AJ, don’t say anything like that ever again.”

“Sorry.” AJ and I say at the same time.

“I can’t stand you two some times.” Beth chimes. “Can we go now?”

“Away we go.” The nurse says with a smile.

“What are they even doing?” AJ asks, sitting back down in his chair.

“They’re putting a little tube, thing, in her arm so she won’t go through male puberty like you. It’s keeping her from growing up the way she doesn’t want to.”

“So she won’t get a deep voice and hair in her face like grandpa?”

“Exactly.”

“But I’m going to grow up like that, right?”

“Of course you are, you’re a boy.”

“Yeah, I am. I don’t want to be a girl. I like being a boy.” 

“That’s all that matters.” I smiles.

“Why did Tommy want to be a girl?”

“I don’t think he wanted to be a girl, I think it’s something that was deep down and he was too afraid to express it. But now Beth is a happier person, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, Beth was always there, but she was stuck inside Tommy. I know that, but I don’t understand it.”

“You accept it and won’t judge her for it though, right?”

“Right, Beth can stay forever because I still have my twin no matter what.” AJ smiles.

“I love you kiddo.”

“I love you too mama.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The thing about the hormone blockers is true. If you are able to, I recommend watching the episode of VICE News about gender identity in youth. Sadly, I couldn't find the video on YouTube, but if you have access to HBO, you'll be able to find it there.


	25. Chapter 25

-Carmilla POV-

I walk into Beth’s room to see her playing with the implant in her arm. “You keep playing with that and it’s going to poke through your skin.”

“It feels so strange, mama.”

“I know. You make me touch it all the time.”

“Everything is going to get better now.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“This is going to help me be a girl easier.”

“I don’t know about that, but it will give us all time to figure everything out.” I say, sitting at the edge of her bed. “Ready to go to sleep?”

“Yeah.” Beth yawns, taking off her glasses and placing them on her nightstand.

“Goodnight, sweetie.” I say, kissing her forehead.

“Goodnight mama.” She says, wrapping me in a small hug. I walk out of her room to see Laura leaving AJ’s room.

“All good?’ 

“Yeah.” Laura smiled. “You?"

“She keeps picking at the implant.”

“And AJ keeps picking at his cast.” Laura laughs, rolling her eyes. “They are on the same wavelength.”

“Tell me about it.” I say, walking downstairs.

“Have you spoken to Lily lately?”

“Not with everything going on, why?”

“She has news, and doesn’t want me to say anything to you. She wants to tell you.” Laura smiles.

“I’ll talk to her tomorrow.” I say through a yawn.

“Just call her now.”

“Why?”

“Carmilla.” She warns.

“If I guess, do I still have to call her?”

“Yes.” Laura says, throwing my phone at me.

“Fine, fine.” I sigh, calling Lily.

_“Hey Carm.”_

“Your mother is harassing me to call you.”

 _“That’s the only way you will call me though.”_ Lily laughs. _“Anyway, Al and I have news for you.”_

“Get to it, your mother and I have to catch up on Scandal, we’re like half a season behind.”

_“Okay, well, I’m pregnant.”_

“Really?” I smile, looking at Laura to see her smiling too.

_“Yeah, I’m about three months.”_

“Holy shit, congratulations kid!”

_“Thank you.”_

“I’m assuming you haven’t told everyone yet?”

_“Just Al’s parents and you guys. I was hoping to have everyone over and make an announcement, like grandpa and the gremlins.”_

“We’ll arrange something, I’m sure your mom has kept you up to date on everything.”

_“Yeah, she has. Look, I have to go Carm. Alicia and I were just about to head out. Tell mom I said I’ll call her tomorrow or stop by.”_

“No problem, I’ll talk to you later.”

 _“Okay, bye.”_ Lily says before hanging up.

“We’re going to be grandparents.” I smile, placing my phone on the coffee table.

“Yeah, we are.” Laura chimes, wrapping me in a hug.

“I can’t believe it.” I sigh. “This is a big deal milestone, right?”

“Pretty much, I think it’s a big deal to be grandparents, it’s easier than being parents. We get to spoil them and send them on their way.”

“And it would be nice having a baby around. I miss the kids being babies.” I smile, pulling Laura into my lap as she walks towards me. “I love you.”

“I haven’t heard that in a while.” She smiles, leaning in to kiss me.

“That doesn’t make it any less true.”

“I know. I love you too.” She whispers against my lips, leaning in and kissing me again. “Are we going to tell AJ and Beth?”

“I think we should give them time to settle before we tell them. We should let Lily tell them after things blow over between Beth’s implant and AJ’s arm.”

“I think you’re right. Are we going to go away?”

“Where do you want to go?” I ask as Laura straddles me.

“I think we should take them somewhere special.”

“Is that code for saying you want me to take you to Disney?”

“Yeah.”

“I mean, if you want to go.”

“Really!” 

“Yeah.” I nod as she leans in and kisses me hard before running over to the deck and getting her laptop. “Are you going to plan it now?”

“Why not?” She shrugs, plopping down beside me. “When should we go?”

“Whenever you want.” I say, wrapping my arms around her waist.

“How about in the fall? That may be a slower time and won’t be so overwhelming.”

“Whenever you want, you set it all up and I just have to let them know at work.”

“Should we ask Lily and Alicia?”

“No. We should just take the kids. AJ and Beth have been through a lot, they both need some time with just us.”

“True.” Laura smiles, turning to kiss me. “Oh wait, do you think they would have more fun at Universal? We can go to the Harry Potter Park!”

“Calm down.” I laugh. “Take a deep breath.”

“I’m fine. I’m excited, I’d rather do that.” 

“We can do that. Set it up.”

“I love you so much.”

“I love you too, weirdo.”

“If I wasn’t looking into planning a trip I would probably punch you.”

“Then keep busy while I go make the popcorn so we can watch Scandal.”

“Okay.” She says, typing away at her computer. I kiss her cheek before getting up and walking into the kitchen. I come back into the living room with a bowl of popcorn, a bottle of water, and a grape soda for Laura.

“Is everything okay?”

“We’re set to go the end of October. The kids are weird so they may get a kick out of the Halloween stuff they do at the park. They like getting scared and stuff like that.” Laura chimes. “We’re going to stay at the park and I got the two park passes, all that fun stuff.”

“Whatever makes you happy.” I say, handing her the soda. “Are you ready to start catching up?”

“Yes ma’am.” She says, pulling the blanket from the back of the couch and putting her laptop on the coffee table. 

* * *

“Mama?” I hear AJ whisper. I open my eyes and see him standing in front of me, tears in his eyes and he hands on to his favorite fox. “I had a bad dream.”

“You want to get in here?” I mumble, sitting up in bed.

“Please.”

“Go on mommy’s side, she likes snuggling more.”

“Can I go in the middle?”

“Yeah, climb up.”

“Who’s in the bed?” Laura mumbles, turning to face me.

“Me, mommy.” AJ says.

“Okay, are you okay?”

“I had a bad dream.”

“Okay, go back to sleep.” Laura mumbles, wrapping an arm around AJ. I wake up to the smell of coffee and bacon coming from downstairs, I think nothing of it as I turn on my side and bury my head into the pillow.

“Hey mama.” I hear Beth whisper in my ear as she climbs up onto the bed. “Mama!” She whisper-shouts.

“What?” I mumble.

“Mommy told me to get you and to come downstairs.”

“I’ll be down in a minute.” I say, sitting up in bed and stretching. “Hello.” I smile. 

“Hi.” She chimes. I follow her downstairs and walk into the kitchen.

“Happy Birthday!” Laura and the kids shout, causing me to jump a bit. Laura walks over to me, wrapping her arms around my shoulders and kissing me. “Happy Birthday, baby.”

“Thank you.” I say. “Is it bad that I forgot?” I whisper, causing Laura to chuckle. 

“With all the stress we have going on, it isn’t bad at all.” She smiles, kissing me again.

“Mama, mama!” Beth chimes, tugging at my shirt.

“Beth, Beth!” I tease, picking her up and kissing her cheek.

“We got you something.”

“Oh yeah?” I ask, walking over to the table. I settle her down in her seat before taking mine at the head of table.

“Beth, let’s eat first and then we’ll let mama open her gifts.” Laura says, placing a plate of pancakes and bacon in the middle of the table and handing me a cup of coffee. Laura kisses the side of my head before going to sit across from me. After enjoying a nice breakfast, there was a knock on the door.

“Hello!” Lily shouts, walking through the door and into the kitchen with Alicia trailing behind her. “Happy Birthday, Carm.” She smiles, walking over and kissing my cheek.

“Happy Birthday.” Alicia smiles, handing me a bouquet of flowers.

“You girls didn’t have to do that.” I chime, standing up from the table.

“Oh, shut up.” Lily says, waving me off. “It seems like we’re just in time for leftovers, Al.” Lily smiles, grabbing a couple of plates and sitting down across from Beth and AJ. “We have some news for you two brats.” Lily teases.

“What is it?” Beth asks, nearly shaking out of her seat.

“Well.” Lily says after shoving nearly half a pancake in her mouth. “Long story short, and you guys ready to be an aunt and an uncle?”

“Aren’t we too little?” AJ asks, cocking his head to the side.

“No, you’re not too little.” Alicia smiles.

“Okay, so you’re gonna have a baby?” Beth asks, pointing at Lily.

“Yeah, I’m gonna have a baby.” Lily coos.

“Oh, good, I thought you were getting fat and I was worried about you shoving a whole pancake in your face.” Beth says, causing Lily to nearly drop her fork and Alicia to start hysterically laughing.

“Ghee, I love you too, Beth.”

“Is it a boy or a girl? Or do you think it’ll be born with the wrong parts like Beth?” AJ asks, causing Laura to swat at him.

“Don’t say things like that, and no matter what we will love that baby, understood?”

“Yes, mom. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, AJ.” Lily says, shaking off his forwardness.

“When are you gonna have it?” Beth asks.

“Well, I’m about three months now, so I think sometime in February or March. The next time I go to the doctor I’ll let you know.”

“Okay.” Beth chimes, gathering her plate to put in the sink before wrapping me in a hug. “I love you mama.”

“I love you too, sweetie.” I say, kissing the top of her head. “Are you okay?” I look down at her from where I stood by the sink to see tears in her eyes; I kneel down in front of her, the kitchen island blocking us from everyone seeing. “What’s wrong?”

“Will I ever be able to have a baby?” She whispers.

“Oh sweetie.” I say, wiping the tears from her cheeks. “Maybe one day. But if you can’t, there are other ways you can have a family. I want you to know that no matter what, when the time comes you will be an amazing mother to your children, no matter where they come from.”

“Okay, mama. I love you.”

“I love you too, monkey.” I say, kissing her cheek and wrapping her in a tight hug. “We all do.” I whisper, picking her up and carrying her back over to the table.

“What’s on the agenda today?” Lily asks as she continues to eat pancakes.

“Giving you an insulin shot wasn’t one of the things, but it may as well be.” I tease.

“I already have that department covered, she’s done now.” Alicia chimes, kissing Lily on the cheek.

“Good, your mother has a sugar addiction when she was pregnant with these two buggers.”

“I remember.” Lily chuckles. “We nearly had to lock up the cookies.”

“That was not my finest moment.” Laura laughs.

“Mom still has too many cookies.” AJ chimes.

“Cookies aren’t as bad as other things out there.”

“That is true.” I smile, kissing Laura on the side of her head.

“Either way, I hope everything will be okay, and all I want is a happy and healthy wife and baby.” Alicia smiles.

“That’s all we want too.” Laura chimes. 

* * *

Laura and I were sitting on the couch; the kids had gone to bed after a wonderful birthday dinner and cake, as per Laura’s request. She was curled into my side while I had my arm wrapped around her. “Did you enjoy your day?”

“I did, very much. Thank you for a wonderful birthday.” I smile, kissing the side of her head. “I loved the fact that the kids each made me a birthday card.”

“I knew you would love that more than some generic card that everyone gets.”

“Of course.”

“I – I got you something.”

“I told you I didn’t want a gift. I never want a gift for my birthday.”

“And what do I do?”

“Still get me a gift.” I smile, rolling my eyes as Laura places a gift bag on my lap.

“Open it.”

“I thought I would leave it and just look at it.” I tease. “Can I guess what it is?”

“No, you know I don’t like when you play that game.”

“But I never guess right.”

“I know, but still.” She whispers, kissing the side of my head. I peak into the black bag with purple tissue paper, smiling at the fact that she always wrapped my gifts with black and purple, even at Christmas time. The kids would make fun of me for never wanting Christmas themed paper. I reach into the bed and pull out a small box and open it.

“Is this?” I ask, taking the necklace out of the box. I open the locket to see a picture of Beth on one side and AJ on the other.

“I figured you needed it updated, not only due to the fact that the twins were babies in the last one, but we need to start putting more pictures of Beth around, and I figured you’d want Beth rather than Thomas, so…”

“I love it.”

“Oh, and I got it polished.”

“I love it, thank you.” I smile, kissing Laura before putting it around my neck. “I have a question.”

“Okay.”

“Do you miss Thomas?”

“No, why?”

“I don’t know.” I shrug. “I was just curious.”

“Want to know what I really thing?”

“Of course, oh wise wife of mine.” I smile as Laura rolls her eyes.

“I feel as if Beth has always been there, she was just waiting for the right time to make herself known. We never had Thomas at a hundred percent.”

“Does it make me a bad parent for never noticing it?”

“Not at all. Don’t ever feel like a bad parent. You are the most amazing parent to our children, and have been an amazing parent to my daughter, I some times forget that you aren’t her mother, and that Danny is.”

“Have you heard from Danny?”

“Not since Lily’s wedding, I think Lily spoke to her recently about being pregnant, but she kind of just stepped into the background after the wedding.” Laura explains.

“I just was curious.” I shrug.

“As long as we never turn into what happened with Danny and I, I don’t care how curious you get.”

“Well, I actually enjoy the gremlins that live in this house, so I would never leave due to missing them so much.” I tease. “And I never want to wake up beside anyone but you, cupcake.” I smile, leaning on and kissing her softly.

“I love you, even when you’re being a real jerk.”

“I love you too.”


	26. Chapter 26

-Laura POV-

“Cupcake.” I hear Carmilla says as she shakes my shoulder a bit. 

“What?” I ask, still half asleep. “What time is it?”

“Two in the morning. Alicia called, Lily had the baby.”

“Really?” I say, shooting up in bed.

“Yeah, a little boy. They named him Joshua Michael. 

“Oh, when are we going to see him?”

“First thing in the morning.” Carmilla yawns, kissing me on the cheek and wrapping her arm around my waist. 

“Are we going to take AJ and Beth?”

“After they go to school, we’ll go.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll call in, it won’t be an issue. I want to go back to sleep, it’s too early in his life for our grandson to see me grumpy.”

“Our grandson.” I coo, kissing the side of Carmilla’s head.

“It makes me feel order than I want to.”

“I know, especially when we have kids still at home.”

“Yeah, but I’m happy for Lily and Alicia, they are going to be amazing parents.”

“That they are.” 

* * *

Carmilla and I walk through the maternity ward hand in hand, looking for Lily’s room. We come across Alicia walking over to us with a small smile. “Hey.” She chimes, giving me a hug and Carmilla.

“How are they?”

“Doing extremely well. Both mother and baby are napping which is why I stepped out for a minute. I needed something to drink, does anyone want anything?”

“No thank you.” Carmilla and I say in unison.

“Okay, if she wakes up let her know I’ll be right back.” Alicia smiles, looking down at her phone before walking down the hallway. I smile, leading Carmilla into the room Alicia came out of; we walk in to see Lily sitting up with Joshua in her arms.

“Hey.” She chimes. “Where’s Al?”

“She said you guys were sleeping, she was just running to get something to drink.” Carmilla explains, walking over to the foot of the bed, I sit down at the edge of the bed.

“Okay, well here he is.” Lily chimes, handing the baby to me.

“He looks just like you did when you were born.” I chime, running my fingers over his honey color hair very lightly.

“That’s what mama said when I sent her a picture of him. She said she wouldn’t be able to make it up here.” Lily says, rolling her eyes.

“I’m assuming she had ‘work’?” I say, quoting the word work.

“Yes ma’am.”

“Who cares? More time for us to hold the little bundle of joy.” Carmilla says, taking Joshua away from me.

“Ghee, thanks for asking if you could have him.”

“I want to hold the baby, thank you for passing him to me.” She smiles.

“You’re lucky I love you.”

“I know it.” She smiles, kissing the side of my head. I smile, watching Carmilla smile and coo at Joshua, who opens his eyes and smiles at her. I took out my phone and took as many pictures as I could.

“You’re going be the best grandma.” Lily says with a smile on her face.

“What are we going to call you?”

“We can go by Nana and Grandma.” Carmilla says. “Or I can go by Oma, I called my grandmother that.”

“Nana and Oma.” I chime. “I like the sound of that.” Lily smiles.

“Hello, I am Oma.” Carmilla coos as Joshua begins to cry a bit. “Oh, come on, don’t cry.”

“I think he’s hungry, Carm.” Alicia says, walking over to take the baby from Carmilla. “Isn’t that right, little one? Are you hungry?” She coos, handing him off to Lily.

“Do you know when you’re coming home?” I ask.

“Probably the day after tomorrow, we just have to make sure he’s okay enough to go home. There shouldn’t be any problems, so I wouldn’t see us not coming home then.”

“We’re going to wait until you come home to let AJ and Beth meet the little guy.” Carmilla says.

“Did you even tell them we had the baby?” Lily asks while looking down at Joshua to make sure her was feeding.

“No, we knew they wouldn’t want to go to school.” I say. “And I think it will be better for the little guy if the twins wait for you to come home and have him settled. They can get loud and lose a sense of peace.”

“That us true.” Carmilla says. “So when you’re ready, they will meet their nephew.”

“So never.” Lily says with a cheeky smile.

“Don’t be mean.” I say watching as Lily hands Josh to Alicia to burp him. I watch as Alicia brings him up to her shoulder, gently patting at his back and kissing the side of his head gently. “You girls are already amazing mothers.” I smile.

“Thank you.” They say in unison, looking at each other and smiling.

“We’re gonna let you three be.” I smile, walking over to kiss Lily on the cheek. “Congratulations again sweetie, if you need anything just call us.”

“I will mom.”

“Seriously, you need anything and we’ll be right up here, kid.”

“I know, Carm. Don’t worry.”

“You too, Alicia. Anything at all.”

“I know, Laura.”

“Okay, we will see you later. I’m pretty sure grandpa will be here as soon as possible. And let me know if your dipshit mother comes up here.” I say, rolling my eyes at the thought of sharing a grandchild with Danny to some capacity.

“We, will. Don’t worry.”

 

-Carmilla POV-

“Hey mama!” Beth shouts, running off of the bus and up the driveway, wrapping me in a hug.

“Hey sweetie. How was school?” I say, kissing the top if her head.

“Good.”

“Hi mama.” AJ sighs, walking past us and into the house.

“Did something happen with your brother?”

“I don’t know. I don’t see him as much as I did last year. We only see each other in the hallway.”

“Mommy probably already got a hold of him. Go wash your hands and come to the kitchen to get your homework done and have a snack.”

“Okay mama.” She says, running into the house and doing what she was told. I follow behind, Beth and find Laura sitting on the couch talking to AJ.

“Is everything okay?” I ask, walking into the room and sitting on the coffee table.

“Our darling, young boy here got sent to the principal’s office today. And that’s as far as I got with him.” Laura explains as the pout on AJ’s face grows.

“What happened, kiddo?”

“I punched a kid.” He mumbles.

“Why did you punch a kid?” I ask.

“How bad did you punch them?” Laura asks.

“His nose was bleeding.” AJ shrugs. “He made fun of Beth. He knew she was a boy before she became herself. He wouldn’t shut up so I punched him. He was calling her names!” He cries.

“Hey, it’s okay. Well you really shouldn’t have punched the boy. But you were protecting your sister.”

“You should have told an adult, not take matters into your hands like that.” Laura says.

“I know, but he wouldn’t stop calling her names, and I asked him to stop and he kept doing it. I couldn’t help it, I’m sorry.”

“Like mama said, you were protecting your sister, but at the cast of getting yourself in trouble.”

“I know. It happened towards the end of the day, I guess the principal didn’t call you.”

“No, we didn’t get a call, or maybe we missed it.” Laura says.

“I didn’t bring my phone with me today, maybe they called me.” I say, walking over to the desk to see that there was a missed call. “Well here it is. I’ll call them tomorrow, I’m assuming you got your punishment?”

“Lunch detention for two days.”

“Seems like they just let you off pretty easy.” I say. “Enough to learn your lesson.”

“I know.”

“Good, not go clean up and get in the kitchen for homework time.” I say, watching him get up and go upstairs, I look over at Laura and move to sit beside her.

“I didn’t think he had it in him to really hit someone.” Laura says, resting her head on my shoulder.

“I know. That’s the shocking part.”

“It really is.”

“Mama, where’s my snack?” Beth asks, walking into the room.

“I’ll get it.” I smile, getting up and following Beth into the kitchen.

“Is it my favorite?”

“Apples and peanut butter. Of course.” I smile, placing the plate in front of her as she sits at the counter. “Don’t forget to get your homework out.”

“I know.”

“What is your homework today?” Laura asks, walking in and setting AJ’s snack on the counter.

“Spelling and a math worksheet.”

“Get it done, you’re good at both of those things.”

“But what if I need help?”

“Mama and I will help you, you know that.” Laura smiles. “What about you AJ?”

“Just spelling.” He says, climbing onto the chair.

“Okay.” I say, pouring myself a cup of coffee. “Your mom and I have some news for you.”

“What is it?”

“Your sister had her baby.” Laura says, watching the kids smile wide.

“When can we meet it?”

“Can we go now?”

“I want to see it today!”

“Is it a girl or a boy?”

“Whoa, whoa.” I say, putting a hand up. “You two are going to wait until the baby is home before you meet him. Lily had a boy and his name is Joshua. They will be home this weekend and that is when you will meet your nephew.”

“We have a nephew.” Beth chimes. “I’m an aunt. And you’re an uncle.”

“That’s pretty cool.” AJ smiles. 

* * *

“Mama.”

“Yes, monkey?” I ask AJ as we walk up the path to Lily’s front door, Laura and Beth following with gift bags.

“Do I have to hold the baby?”

“No, you don’t have to.”

“Good, I don’t want to drop him.”

“I’m pretty sure, Lily would help you out and make it so you wouldn’t drop him, and mommy and I are there to help you if you choose to hold, Josh.”

“I’ll see how I feel.”

“All good kiddo. Now, just in case the baby is asleep, the two of you shouldn’t be rowdy or loud, okay? The little guy is barely a month old.”

“Okay, Mama.” AJ and Beth say. I unlock the door and walk in to find Alicia walking out of the kitchen with Josh against her shoulder.

“Hey guys, how are you?”

“Good.” I smile. “How are he and mama?”

“Lily is upstairs taking a nap, she wanted to be up before you guys got here, but I didn’t want to wake her up. And little guy here wouldn’t stop crying until I held him.”

“That’s going to be a thing for a while, potentially. All kids are different.” Laura says, walking over and looking at the sleeping baby. He opens his eyes for a moment and looks at Laura and grins as he closes his eyes again.

“He probably thinks you’re, Lily.” Alicia says with a small laugh.

“Probably.”

“Are we allowed to hold him?” Beth asks, walking over and shoving her face in Josh’s.

“Why don’t we wait for, Lily?” Alicia says with a smile. “In fact, Ma can you hold him?” She says, handing Josh to Laura. “I’m going to go let her know you’re here.”

“Can I please hold him?” Beth begs as we walk into the living room.

“Wait for your sister, then we’ll discuss it.”

“But why?”

“He’s her baby, and she may want to be here to see you hold him for the first time.”

“Okay.” Beth sighs, sitting next to Laura and shoving her face in Josh’s. “He smells good.”

“That’s a special baby smell.” Laura laughs.

“He smells like something new.” AJ chimes as he stands in front of Beth and Laura.

“Well he is new.” I smile, walking over and sitting on the other side of Laura. “When you two were born, you had the same smell.”

“Mama wouldn’t stop smelling either of you for weeks.”

“It’s true, she rotated between both of you, and it was strange.” Lily chimes as she walks into the room with a smile. “Every time a friend of mine was over, they would see Carm smelling one of you and look at me like she was crazy.”

“Why do you call Mama, Carm?” AJ asks.

“You know Aunt Danny?”

“That Aunt Danny that we never really see a lot?” Beth asks.

“She’s my Mama.” Lily chimes, taking Josh from Laura.

“So we share a mommy, but have different mamas?”

“Exactly.” Lily smiles as she looks down at her son. “So, the rumor is that you want to hold this little guy so bad you can’t even stand it.”

“That’s true.” Beth smiles. “Can I hold him?”

“I mean, if you want.” Lily says playfully. “You just have to wait until Alicia gets down here, she has a special pillow that will make it easier to support him.”

“Okay.” Beth smiles as Alicia walks into the room with a boppy pillow, putting it on Beth’s lap.

“Sit as far back as you can, kid.” Alicia says. Beth does as she’s told before Joshua is placed in her lap. Beth looks down at the baby with a smile, causing Laura to start taking pictures on her phone.

“I have a question.” Beth announces quietly, still looking down at Josh. “Do you think he’ll be like me?”

“What do you mean by that kiddo?” I ask, looking over to see Laura furrow her brow.

“Do you know if he’s going to really be a girl like me? Do you think he’ll change?”

“Well, if it came down to that, we would still love him no matter what he feels, or what he is. Right now we just want Josh to be happy and healthy and for nothing to happen to him. When the time comes to figure things out and he wants to talk to someone if it comes to that, we will send him to his favorite aunt.” Alicia explains with a smile.

“I love them already. I will help them if they feel like me, I just want Josh happy.”

“So do we.” Laura smiles, kissing the side of Beth’s head.


	27. Chapter 27

-Carmilla POV-

“Should we get her from school, or wait until she comes home?” Laura asks, walking in with a bag from the drugstore.

“Let’s wait until she gets home, just leave it out.”

“Does she know we were getting it today?”

“No, I didn’t tell her. Let it be a surprise that the Dr. Adams approved of it.”

“Okay.” Laura says, walking over and kissing me quickly. “She’s going to be so happy.”

“I know.” I smile, resting my forehead against hers. “I’m happy for her.”

“So am I. She deserves to start her life the right way.”

“Yeah. Oh, Lily called while you were out, she wanted to know if it was okay to drop off Joshua?”

“Of course, he’s at the age where he laughs at everything, I can’t wait to see him.”

“I’ll text her and let her know.”

“Okay. I guess we’ll just leave the bag here, wait for Beth to get home. I have to get an article edited, I’ll be up stairs.” Laura says, kissing me on the cheek.

“Okay, I’ll see you in a little bit.” 

* * *

“Mama!” AJ shouts as he walks into the house.

“Has your voice gotten deeper since you left this morning?” I ask the fourteen-year-old.

“I don’t know.” He shrugs, making his way to the fridge. “What are you having for dinner?”

“Mom is making chicken. Where’s Beth?”

“She went upstairs to change.” AJ says with a mouthful of something.

“Please resist the urge to be barbaric.” I say, handing him a kitchen towel for him to wipe his mouth.

“I’m sorry, Mama.” I reach up and put my hand on his cheek and he smiles. “What?”

“You look like your grandpa.”

“He says that all the time. But something about having Grandma’s eyes, which means I have Mom’s eyes.”

“You do have Mom’s eyes.” I chime. “Stop growing. You’re getting too big.”

“I’m sorry Mama.” He smiles, kissing my cheek. “I have to go start my paper, it’s due tomorrow.” 

“What’s it on?”

“Some history paper, I want to get it out of the way.”

“Just don’t stress yourself out, you’re smart and don’t need to over work yourself.”

“I know.” He smiles, taking a bite out of an apple before going upstairs.

“Hi Mama.” Beth chimes walking in and sitting at the counter. “What’s this?” She asks, pointing to the brown paper bag.

“Open it.” I smile. “Wait. Laura! Come on!” I shout, listening to the rustling upstairs. Laura walks into the kitchen and stands next to me, wrapping her arm around my waist with a smile. “Okay, you can open it.” Beth looks at us curiously, pushing her glasses up as she looks into the bag, dumping the contents out onto the counter.

“Is this?” She asks with a smile.

“Yes it is.” Laura chimes.

“When can I start it?”

“Tomorrow. We have a doctor’s appointment for you anyway.”

“Okay.” She smiles, walking over and giving Laura and I a hug. “Thank you for everything you do for me. I love you, Mom.” She says, kissing Laura’s cheek. “I love you, too Mama.” She adds, kissing my cheek.

“We love you very much and are so proud of you.” Laura smiles, holding Beth’s face in her hands. “You are becoming a beautiful young woman.”

“Thank you Mom. Sappiness aside, I have to go do homework. I’m very happy about this.” She says, picking up the box and shaking it. “But I really have to focus on my schoolwork.”

“We know. Between you and your brother we couldn’t be happier that you two are so invested in school.” I smile.

“Go, Josh is going to be here soon and he’ll want your attention.”

“How long is he staying?”

“Not sure, Lily and Alicia want some alone time so he may be here overnight.” I explain.

“Okay.” Beth smiles, getting a bottle of water and going back upstairs. Soon after Beth departed, there was a knock on the door followed by the pitter-patter of feet barreling towards the kitchen.

“Oma!” Josh shouts, running into me and wrapping his arms around my legs before moving to Laura. “Nana!”

“Hello my handsome grandson.” Laura chimes, picking up the boy and wrapping him in a hug. “Where are mommy and mama?”

“There.” He says, pointing towards the entryway of the kitchen where Lily and Alicia were walking in. “Mommy has a baby!”

“You what?” Laura asks, her eyes popping out of her head.

“Hello, how are you?” Lily smiles sarcastically. “Yes, I am indeed pregnant.”

“Congratulations, Kid.” I say, wrapping her in a hug. “Who…?”

“We did surrogate, so I’m carrying Alicia’s fertilized egg. Same donor, different egg.”

“Congratulations, Sweetie.” Laura smiles, kissing Lily’s cheek before moving to Alicia’s. “Are you ready to be a big brother?” Laura asks Josh.

“No.” He giggles, shaking his head.

“Well, you’ll be ready when the time comes.” Alicia chimes, kissing her son on the cheek. “We love you.”

“I love you, Mama. Bye-bye.”

“Bye-bye sweetie, we’ll see you later.” Lily smiles, kissing his cheek. “Thanks again Mom.”

“We love spending time with this little guy, it’s all good.” Laura smiles. “Go, we’ll be okay.” Laura smiles as Alicia and Lily walk out of the house.

“AJ.” Josh says, wiggling out of Laura’s arms. “AJ!” The little boy shouts from the bottom of the stairs.

“Hey, little man.” I hear AJ chime as he reaches the bottom. “I’m going to take him up with me!” He calls out.

“Just put the gate up so he doesn’t come down unsupervised.” I say, standing at the bottom of the stairs.

“You sound like grandpa.”

“Sorry, I worry about things.”

“I know.”

“And don’t play those shooting games in front of him, you know I don’t like them as it is.”

“I know, I know.”

“Yeah, Oma.” Joshua chimes at the top of the stairs. 

* * *

I walk into our bedroom to see Laura sitting up in bed reading a book. She looks up at me, and smiles. I walk over to her taking the book from her hands and lying on top of her, resting my head on her chest. “Why are you all mushy?”

“I love you.” I mumble, kissing her neck.

“I love you too.” She whispers, running her fingers through my hair. “Did you check on the kids?”

“AJ is snoring away, and Beth is curled up in a ball sleeping soundly.”

“Something on your mind?”

“Do you think we’re raising them right?”

“I think we are doing a fantastic job, I like we did a fantastic job on all of them. We have two wonderful daughters and a wonderful son, well, depending on the day when it comes to AJ.” Laura teases. “Thanks to Lily we now have a wonderful grandson with another grandchild on the way. And Beth led us on a ride we wouldn’t have experienced had we not been the type of people we are. There is nothing to be concerned about.”

“Would you change anything?”

“Honestly?”

“Yes, of course.”

“I would only change the timeline in which I met you. I wish it was you I raised Lily with from birth, not Danny. That is probably the only think I would change in my life if I were given the opportunity.” Laura explains with a smile. “But I did have the chance to raise a family with you from the beginning until the end, so it isn’t all that bad.”

“I sometimes felt that way in the beginning, that I couldn’t have raised Lily with you from the beginning, but it was fate that we even ended up together. Lily was that fate.” 

“That is true, and I wouldn’t have it any other way."

“Neither would I.” I smile, leaning up to kiss her.


End file.
